RWBY Jaeger Wars
by Zerosaviour
Summary: This is the hidden history of the bloodiest Huntsman civil war to date. Come along with team RWBY as they learn about this hidden past and how it shaped the huntsmen and huntresses of present.
1. Prolouge

Prolouge

Few understand the burden that comes with wearing the badge. The sacrifices that had to be made for victory. As long as mankind had lived; all they cared about is the victory but not the cost. Only the win and not what was lost. Huntsmen and huntress' are trained to hunt and kill Grimm; yet many don't realize the true cost until they themselves become the hunted.

This story began over a decade ago; after the loss of one of their greatest huntresses. It began with an order. None shall go and slay that which had killed that huntress. Though many protested; none dared disobey. None save one huntsman. A virtuoso of death, skilled beyond his year; defied their orders and set out to hunt and slay said beast. A party was sent to track him down and bring him back.

When they found him; a battle ensued. When the council met again to discuss the developments; they saw him waiting in the center of the council chambers. He came for his judgement for the slaying of the other hunters. He prostrated himself to them and spoke plainly about why he disobeyed their orders. Not once in the history of the huntsmen has one of their own slayed another in combat; yet in front of their eyes, this huntsman spoke of his regrettable need to slay them in order to continue on with his mission.

The debate lasted all day and into the night. Even when the next day came; they still debated. Weeks went by and they continued to debate. The huntsmen and huntress' were there to slay the Grimm; that is what they dedicated their lives for. To deny a huntsman that is to deny them their life. Yet in attempt to complete his mission; other huntsmen tried to stop him and broke their unspoken law of not laying hands upon a fellow huntsman.

The council was besides itself on what to do till finally; months after it began, the huntsman was brought before the council. As the council proceeded to read him his sentense; he interrupted them. Two words were spoken. 'Non Servia'. I will not serve. With that; he broke from his binds and claimed his blade. The council threated to excommunicate him from the order; which only got him to turn and smirk at them.

Few knew that with one act of defiance; a bloody civil war was seeded.

Within days of his self banishment; he single handedly cleaned out the paradiso fields that were overrun by boarbatusks. Within a month, the emerald everglades were purged of the King Taijitu and Sobeks that call it home. As more and more months went by; his exploits grew. Unbound by structure and answerable only to himself; he had managed to do what no other hunter dared do. He had started to claim and reclaim land from the Grimm. Many huntsmen and huntress' grew embolden by his example and cast off the bondage of that the council held upon them and struck out on their own. Yet not all saw this as a new renaissance; many of the old guard saw this as a straight out mutiny.

On what would be the longest night of Remnant; the council met and a declaration was made. All hunters and huntress' that have broken their vow to serve the council must surrender and face the councils judgement or else be hunted themselves. Yet; as one the rogue hunters spoke. ' Non servia'. With that the Huntsman civil war began...

(Authors note: You have all right to point out any grammer errors that I have made. Grammer has never been my strong suit. Feel free to contact me with reviews or any grammerical or spelling errors.)


	2. Chapter 1

Story 1: RWBY

It was a forboding morning; with a darkened sky and a chilling unholy breeze coming from the south. Team RWBY had slowly made their way to their morning classes; still trying the brush off the lingering sleepiness that claimed them. Followed closely behind them was team JNPR; who was just as worse for ware. Weeks of hard training and late night cram sessions have slowly taken its toll on the students; to the point that it became harder and harder for them to get the strength to crawl out of bed each morning. Ruby Rose was by far the most affected by the sleep deprivation; seeing that her sharp combat skills did nothing to help her with her written course work.

With a big yawn Ruby spoke, "Aaaaaaaaaahhh. I wish I was back in bed." She quickly turned her head over to Weiss Schnee. "Weiss..."

Weiss turned her head sharply towards Ruby and stared daggers at the young huntress in training. "No! I am NOT going to take notes for the both of us. It's YOUR fault that WE'RE not getting any sleep."

Ruby stopped mid stride and gave Weiss a look of a sad puppy. "But but... My mind is complete garbage when I'm tired..."

Quickly changing her sadden face to a more stoic one. "Besides; who needs to know all this history stuff? What does learning about history and stuff have to do with slaying monsters?"

Despondant at the lack of maturity from their group leader, Weiss' usual cold demenour turned sour. "WHAT DOES LEARNING ABOUT HISTORY HAVE TO DO WITH SLAYING MONSTERS? EVERYTHING!"

Weiss got closer to Ruby and placed a single finger right in front of Rubys' face and with a scolding overtone spoke. "How about Sir Regmund the third who was able to lead his army to victory over a vast horde of Grimm due to his intricate knowledge of the landscape on which they fought. Or the great huntress Frigg who was able to defeat dozens of Nevermore with nothing more than the tools that she could forge from her surroundings and her guile. The whole point of learning about history is that we don't make the same mistakes as others before us. Or learn new ways of being able to defeat the Grimm; if we ever end up in a similar situation."

Both groups stood silent for the longest time; letting Weiss' words sink in. Deep down they all knew that she was correct; especially Ruby. Deep down Ruby was actually quite grateful that her team had helped her in her studies; especially Weiss. Weiss always ranked high in any written course work; especially when it came to history and mathematics. Which when it came down to physical application of strategies; gave their team a strong advantage over other teams. Reluctantly, Ruby lowered her head in shame of her childness.

"Your right Weiss. I'm sorry for being so selfish."

Returning her eyes back to face Weiss'; Ruby was expecting to find Weiss still angry at Rubys' lack of maturity. Instead she saw a softer face in front of her. "Ruby. I know I can be mean sometimes. But I want you to know that I'm not being mean out of hate. I just want you to be the best team leader that you can be. If that means cracking the whip some times then I'll do it. If it means that I have to stay up late at night to help you study; then I'll do it. I want; no... we want you to succeed."

With that a smile creeped across Rubys face and team RWBY broke into a small impromptu celebration.

Jaune looked over to Pyrrha with somewhat lovely dovey look across his face. "Doesn't that just warm your heart on this cold morning."

Pyrrha with a very coy look on her face turned to Jaune. Like a cat who ate the canary she spoke, "Speaking of which; Jaune. You need to keep up working on your swordsmanship. We can't be carrying you all the time."

Jaune; taken aback by Pyrrhas' words found what enery left in him get drained out. Till all that was left was an empty husk of a man. Pyrrha touched his arm and dragged him along with a gleeful smile on her face. "Lighten up Jaune. You know I was kidding right.."

"Kidding. Yeah..."

Neither team realized that today wasn't going to be just another ordinary day at Beacon Academy however. Beyond the grounds of the school; plans had been set into motion that would change how the hunters and huntresses viewed the world and their place in it. For all what not right with the world and there was deadlier things in the forests that surrounded the academy than Grimm. And those things planned on visiting the campus.

Slowly, a heavy fog rolled across the campus, impairing the vision of anyone that wasn't indoors. As both teams finally made it inside the main building, they paused to consider how quickly it rolled in. Thinking how odd it was too. They were about to think nothing of it until Glynda Goodwitch rushed to them in a hurry. She wore a nervous and quite fearful expression on her face as if she saw death itself in front of her. She turned to the students and tried to address them in a calm and collected manner; yet could not hide how much fear actually was in her voice.

"Students... I need you to hurry to class. I need you to run there as fast as possible... And lock the door behind you."

They all were stunned as she spoke. Rarely had she shown this much emotion; and never one of pure panic and fear. They themselves started to be afraid of whatever had rattled their teacher to her core.

Jaune tried to respond, "Um Ms. Goodwitch, what is going..."

Glynda cut him off mid sentence and basically shouted at them; this time not hiding any of her fear. " GET TO CLASS NOW!"

Without another word spoken, she ran past them; out the main door and onto the academy grounds. Neithers of the teams spoke nor moved; letting Glyndas' words sink in. What ever was going on was serious enough to scare a seasoned huntress as Glynda; meant that it was way out of their league. Yet the seriousness didn't start sinking in until more faculty started rushing past them. Till it appeared all the faculty in the academy was outside in the fog.

"What in the world is going...ON!" Jaunes final word was excenuated by the blast of a massive explosion that took place on the campus grounds; rocking the academy walls and shattering all the windows in proximity. The force knocked the students to the ground.

Getting up; shaking the dust and glass off her uniform; Ruby looked out the broken window onto the campus grounds. There on the grounds laid a vast majority of the staff; many injured and a few completely taken out of the battle. What caught Rubys gaze however were the five shadowy figures in the distance. Cloaked in garment and fog alike; they walked slowly towards the still standing staff. With each step; each staff member shook in fear; knowing full well the monsters that stepped every closer towards them.

The students looked shocked; the faculty who are trained huntsmen and huntresses in their own right were afraid. Afraid of all things; these beings in front of them. Not Grimm but those of the mortal coil.

Glynda stood before the cloaked figures holding her ribs with her left hand while her right barely held onto her riding crop. With pure hatred and disdain in her voice she scowled at the one in the middle. "After all these years... After all these years you finally decided to do it. The wars over... You got your freedom. What good is he to you anymore?.. After all those mighty words of honour and pride; you finally decided to show your true colors. You finally decided to get your revenge on Ozpen. Well, I've trained since then... I've trained and waited for this chance. Your bloody crusade ends he..re.."

She lost sight of him for less than a second; a blink of an eye some would say. For him; that was what all he needed. Glynda was stopped mid sentense from a hard fist to the gut; fracturing two more of her ribs in the process. The pain was excruciating. Glyndas' body crumpled under its own weight down to the academy grounds.

The cloaked figure could only scowl. "You call yourself a huntress... My how times of peace have made us soft. Look at you. How dare you call yourself a huntress. Your not even worthy to clean the mud off of my boots."

He looked down with her with pure contempt in his his eyes and fist full of rage. "You huntsmen and huntresses dare say that you're this worlds protectors... You can barely protect yourselves."

The students could only look on as all the faculty lay beaten on the campus grounds. They could barely believe their eyes at how badly and how swiftly the trained staff fell. Yang turned her head to the others.

"This looks bad. We need to think of a way to help Professer Goodwitch. Ruby, do you... got any... ideas?"

Yang looked around at the group to see that Ruby no longer was huddled in with them in the relative safety of the building.

"Um. Guys. Where's Ruby?"

Everyone; broken from their self induced spell of shock; finally noticed that Ruby was missing. They all tried looking around for her till in unison; they looked out towards the courtyard.

The cloaked man bent over towards Glynda and pierced her soul with his cold grey eyes. They both knew she was defeated; all that was left was his decision on what to do with her. He let out a low deep growl of delight at the thoughts of what to do to her. Yet his personal victory was short lived as he heard a high pitched voice shout a challenge towards him.

"Hey! Leave my teacher alone!"

Without hesitation; Ruby unloaded rounds from the Crescent Rose at the cloaked man. He barely managed to dodge the first few rounds yet managed to dodge the rest easily. Slowly he stalked towards her; dodging more of her shots along the way. His walk became a run till he was dead sprinting across the grounds towards her. Ruby barely managed to reload the gun before he was on her. She quickly unfolded the rest of the Crescent Rose to its full scythe mode; spinning it around her in an attempt to make a killing zone around her person. As he backstepped away from her spins; she fired a shot from it; accelerating her body towards him. She started her attack with another shot to help the acceleration and rotation of her spin as she went for a horizontal slash across his midsection. Yet it only tore through his cloak to finally full reveal the opponent before her.

He easily stood six feet tall with a lean yet muscular build. His unruly hair coming down to his cold grey eyes. His hands and arms bore steel gauntlets and two guardless blades were held on his back.

Ruby used the momentum from her first slash to do another spin for a diagonal slash. With ease he dodged it also; along with the multiple slashs that followed. Even though she continued to pick up the pace with each slash rotation; no attacks were hitting their mark. Finally loosing her patience; she forced a ascending vertical slash; attempting to slice him legnth ways. Halfway thru though; she knew she had failed as the Crescent Rose barely missed hitting him.

...

This man; who stood imposingly in front of her grinned wickedly. He let out a low growl as his eyes pierced hers. They both knew that she had made a crucial mistake and now she was going to pay for it. He closed the short distance in an instant; right through Rubys' guard. With a fierce right hook; he had spun her around and cause her to lose what little defense she had. Ruby quickly stepped back; yet found him immediately upon her. She started firing off the Crescent Rose at him; using the recoil to push her backwards and open up some distance between them. Yet this man not only dodged the rounds but continued to match pace with the young huntress in training. Till finally he pushed right to her and struck her with a one-two punch combo that knocked her off balance and caused her to fall to the ground.

Ruby quickly placed the barrel onto the ground and pulled the trigger. Within an instant both she and Crescent Rose were airborn and fell back away from this beast of a man. As soon as her feet hit solid ground; she fired her weapon again. She charged towards him hoping to finish this with one powerful horizontal slash. As she begun her swing; the horror of her situation finally caught up to her. She had left herself wide open again for him to attack her front and he was already there to meet her with a clothsline; taking her firmly off her feet and crashing down hard to the ground below.

All the man could do was laugh as this would be huntress continued to make a fool of herself in combat. 'If this was the best Ozpyn could find then I am doing him a service by destroying them,' he though to himself as he bent over and picked up the Crescent Rose.

The other students looked on in shock as not only was Ruby soundly defeated; but this man was taking her scythe. Yangs' anger grew. Her little sister lay beated soundly on the ground and all they could do was look on in fear. She couldn't stand it any longer. Deep down she knew that neither of them could beat this man but she couldn't stand still any longer. Yet it wasn't her that moved first. A streak of yellow barged past them all and ran head long at the man. She heared Pyrrha shout out Jaunes' name and she knew instantly that it was him that was charging this unknown man. Emboldend by Jaunes' charge; she raced after him.

The man looked up at the two new students joining the fray and growled; spinning the Crescent Rose in a circle. He met their charge with a charge of his own. Jaune withdrew his sword and tried to slice the man in two only to find that his stomach was exposed to the back side of the scythe. With a mightly blow to Jaunes stomach; the man ended Jaunes' charge. Yet his eyes quickly picked up on a blonde mass coming down from behind Jaune.

Yang crashed down between the man and Jaune and proceeded to strike the man. She let loose with her gauntlets during each punch. She continued pushing the man back; even if her punches and shots weren't connecting. She tried pushing harder till she over commited on a straight right. This time the dodge was faster as the man spun around her arm and sent the back end of his stolen scythe across her back. The blow caused her to fall to her knees; severely winded from such a powerful blow.

The man showed no sign of pity or sympathy as he laid the edge of the blade against her throat. Yang could only look out at her sister in fear as she knew in a split second that she would be dead and that Ruby would be defenseless against this monster. Ruby herself screamed as she saw her sister and best friend in the world at the mercy of her own weapon. Yet Ruby couldn't move. She was helpless without the Crimson Rose; there was no way she could stop this man without it.

"I'm sorry Ruby." All Yang could do was close her eyes and wait for her death. There was nothing either girl could do to stop this man...

A loud explosion broke the tension as Yang fell forward hard. She turned around quickly; expecting to see the man readying the finishing blow. Yet what greeted her was the giant hammer that belonged to Nora. To her right and left were Pyrrha and Ren. She found that they now stood between her and the man with Weiss and Blake guarding Jaune.

Pyrrha looked over to Yang. "Go check on Ruby. We'll hold this guy off."

The standing members of JNPR and RWBY charged the man as Yang stood up and ran towards her sister. She slid towards Ruby and checked over her body to make sure she was ok.

"Yang. I'm sorry." That was all she could let out before she started crying into Yangs' chest.

"It's ok Ruby. We're all here for you." Yang held her close and patted her lightly on the head. "Do you think you can still fight?"

Ruby was startled that Yang still desired to fight that man. She was even more startled to see her friends trying to fight that man. They were trying their hardest to hurt him; yet his movements showed that he was still able to handle so many with little fuss. Both girls knew that their team needed them; yet deep down they wondered if even that would be enough to stop this man.

...

Multiple gun fire and dust spells were sent hurdling towards this unnamed man; yet each was dodged effortlessly as if he could predict all of their attacks before they even performed them. Ruby quickly took in their situation trying to figure out the best way of attack seeing that overwhelming him with sure numbers had proven completely ineffective. Finally, she shouted out a command to her team, "Weiss, FREEZER BURN!"

Instinctively, Weiss set the groud around them to ice while Yang came down with a strong fist and turned that ice into a thicker layer of fog. Making the already thick fog into an unseeable soup.

"Guys, check me."

As the call came out both Weiss and Blake rushed towards the ghostly image of the man planning to pierce and cleave him in two; respectively. Yet all they were met with was the ghostly image and nothing else.

Jaune quickly shouted an order to his team. "Air Raid"

Nora turned her hammer into its grenade launcher form and launched shot after shot into the air. Few seconds later, the shots exploded into small flechetta rounds. Pyrrha tapped into her magnetism aura power and turned each flechetta into a powerful spinning fan; blowing the fog up and away from the students. With their vision finally regained; Jaune let out an early sign of relief. Yet his relief turned into near panic as he saw the crescent rose flying like a bullet towards him. Pyrrha reacted instinctively and raised Jaunes shield with her aura causing him to block the blow; yet knocking him down hard.

The same could not be said for Pyrrha, as this monster of a man stood before her and violently backhanded her. With a hard shot to the gut; Pyrrha lay crumbled on the ground unconscious. The others could only look on stunned as both Pyrrha and Jaune get taken out of the fight so effortlessly.

...

His grey eyes stare each one of them down as his hands find the grips of his blades on his back. He swiftly unsheathed them; changing from their base revolver form into their bladed form. Yet even before he could decide who to defeat first; a familiar hand places itself firmly upon his right shoulder. This new figure walks foward with his fingers grazing the rim of his black fedora.

"Sieg, not to ruin your fun, but we are on a time table here."

Sieg; supressing his battle urge slowly compacts his blades back to revolver form and then replaces them back into their holsters.

The fedora hatted man walked closer to the students with a much more laise faire posture. "I'm sorry for my leaders lack of tact. It's just been such a very long time since he's had a good fight. He just couldn't resist himself. Allow me to introduce myself. You may call me Apollo."

He slowly removed his fedora with his right hand and bowed towards the students.

"We've only come here to have a... a 'conversation' with Ozpyn. If you would be so kind as to go and retrieve him, then we shall give you no more trouble."

Apollo looked back up to his bow to see team RWBY and the remaining team JNPR pointing their weapons at him. He sighs reluctantly as a small bead of sweat runs down his face.

Without hesitation they open up with gun rounds and dust attacks at Apollo hoping to take him down quickly. He could only sigh as he pulled out his trumpet that he kept secured along his back and begins to play a tune loudly.

With each blast from his trumpet; the rounds and dust attacks slow until they finally dead stop mere inches from him. Apollo lets loose another flourish of blasts; forcing everything back in a wave of sound and fury.

As the dust settled from his attack; no one stood to oppose him.

"Sigh. Why do kids always want to do it the hard way? I don't..."

His words were cut mid sentense as a metal gauntlet appeared next to his head along with a sword blade. The gauntlet belonging to Sieg and the blade belonging to Jaune.

Siegs' gravely voice broke the stalemate between the three. "I should congradulate you. Not many hunters could say that they could take such a powerful blow and still be standing so soon."

Jaunes eyes were filled with rage. Both his team and team RWBY were defeated handedly and these men had already shown interest of ending all of their lives. Now out of all times; he had to be the hunter he always wanted to be. Not for himself; but for his friends who depended on him.

"You monsters. I don't care if you wear the skin of man. I'm going to finish you here and now!"

Sieg could only smile at the boy and he could feel Jaune try to force his blade harder onto Siegs gauntlet. With just a flick of his wrist; he knocked the blade back and forcing Jaune a few steps back. Sieg removes both of his blades from his back and fully extends both of them.

"I'm starting to like you more and more already, boy... Tell me; what is your name boy?"

Jaune could only stare him down coldly. "Why do you want to know my name NOW?"

"Because, it is only fair to know the name of the person that I am about to kill."

Jaune gripped his sword tighter. "Jaune... The name of the hunter that is going to stop you is Jaune Arc."

Sieg smile grew bigger at hearings Jaunes' boast. "Well Jaune Arc. It was a pleasure to meet you. Now, count up your sins..."

Apollo and the others who came with Sieg could only look on in shock as they heard their leaders words. He only ever used those words when he was intent was to kill. Did this 'boy' grab his attention so much as to warrent such a response? They didn't have time to react as both combatants charged one another.

Jaune brought his blade down fast and hard; planning on cleaving this monster in half. Yet Siegs left blade met his sword in a violent clash of steel; knocking Jaune's blade harmlessly to the side. While at the same time leaving Jaune fully exposed to his right blade. All onlookers could only look on in fear and shock as Siegs thrust was about to penetrate the childs chest.

Sieg was the first one to notice the blur though. His eyes trained in not getting tunnel visioned in a fight. He was even less surprised to see a metal object deflect his blade away from Jaunes' chest. His smile felt like it would rip his face in half as he recognised the metal object and who was weilding it in front of him.

"Ozpyn... About time. If you took any longer; you would of been down a student."

Sieg stood straight up and sheathed his blades; making eye contact with a greatly angered Ozpyn.

"Sieg... you best have a good reason for coming here and destroying my school."

Sieg finally turned his head and surveyed the damage his battle had caused. "So I went a bit overboard. But you know I wouldn't even be here unless it was important. Now shall we go to your office or would you prefer to air more dirty laundry out in the courtyard."

Without another word; Ozpyn, Sieg, Apollo, and the remaining cloaked strangers walked into Beacon leaving the battered students and faculty in the mercy of the arriving medical teams...

End chapter 1...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Unkillable Killers

Days passed since the Jaeger incursion; buildings repaired and bodied mended. Yet a ominus over tone stood over the school as a dark cloud of doubt and fear. Ruby found it harder to focus in class than usual as Doctor Oobleck lectured on about the rise and fall off the third kingdom. Her mind continued to flash horrific visions of that day; that day that almost was her last day. The Jaegers came in like a thrashing storm, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake. Her ribs also echoed her fears as they still ached from the one called Siegs' blows.

"Miss Rose, would you be so kind to summarize what I have been talking about these past five minutes?"

Ruby looked up from her daze to see Doctor Oobleck standing in front of her. He looked his usual disheveled self save for his left arm being in a sling.

"I... I... I'm sorry Doctor Oobleck... I kind of had my mind on other things."

Ruby looked down in fear at her desk and she could hear Cardin Winchester and his cronies in the background snicker at her perdicament. Ruby tried to look up to Oobleck with a stern face yet her fear was easily visibile.

Oobleck straightend his glassed with his right middle finger and took stock of the girl that sat before him. His words came crisp and clear so everyone could understand. "You are still frightened of them; the Jaegers."

He needed no verbal reply from her. Just hearing their name sent a jolt of fear through the young huntress.

"There is no shame in being afraid of a strong opponent. To show fear is to understand how strong someone really is and how weak you are in comparison."

Cardin leaned back in his chair and put his feet up smugly. After hearing about both team RWBYs' and team JNPRs' complete defeat at the hands of only two of the Jaegers; he couldn't help himself but to take sick enjoyment from the knowledge.

Oobleck took notice of Cardins' posture immediately and in a dash was back at his desk.

"As part of the teaching staff; it is my job to protect the students under my care in situations that they could not or should not handle... A few days ago; me a long with the rest of the faculty failed you. It was our inability to stop these monsters that led to eight students here to face an enemy more fiece and deadly than and grim you will live to see."

On the back row; Velvet raised her hand. "Doctor Oobleck; I have a question. Why have we not heard about this group before? If they are so dangerous then why is there no information about them?"

A jolt of fear and guilt shook the normally stoic doctor. " Of all the history of mankind and faunas, there is one part that many would love to forget. For during that time; a group of unkillable killers grew from the ranks of normal huntsman and huntresses. They killed man and grim alike in droves. There has been unverified accounts that they performed whole sale slaughter on towns that refused them safe harbor."

Velvet looked revolted at such a revelation. " If they were such monsters; then why didn't the huntsmen and huntresses stop them?"

Ooblecks' expression changed quickly from fear, to sorry, then to one of anger. " We tried..."

...

To begin with, the actual cause has been sealed by the council. So there are very few people who know what triggered the schizm and finally the war between the huntsmen and the Jaegers. One of the only few who do is Professor Ozpyn. You all may summarize that he may of been a target for assasination in this unprovoked Jaeger attack. You may be right about that summarization. Yet for some reason; they stopped their incursion and their leader spent a couple of minutes talking alone with Ozpyn before leaving as quickly as they appeared.

But on the subject of their beginnings; the first Jaeger was Sieg. He disobeyed a council order forbidding anyone from entering the dark ring forest after a seasoned group of huntsmen and huntresses disappeared within it. Despite warnings of punishment and possible banishment from the order; he went anyways.

What he faced in there we may never know; all we could tell was whatever happened to him, changed him irrevocably. The council had sent a dozen seasoned huntsmen squads to track him since his disappearance. Two of the squads finally tracked him down to the echo ridge mountains; where according to his own word; they all died in an attempted to stop a great evil. The only other survivor was a huntress that was so traumatized by the incident that she has been in a near catatonic state since her return.

His trial caused an immediate uproar among the huntsmen and huntresses as word got out about how he slew hordes after hordes of grim; creating a bloodly swath of destruction and carnage in his wake. By the second day of the trial; the council had sealed all records and barred access fully. Many; myself included; waited with baited breathe each day to hear any new information about the trial. Yet days soon turned into weeks. Those weeks turned into months. Many thought it would even take years to finally get a judgement from the council.

I still remember the day that the judgement was handed down. It was the last day of spring; the fateful day that changed everything. The council led him to the center of Vale; they wanted to put on a spectacle for the regular citizens. To show that no person; not even a huntsman was above their control. The masses came in droves; even many huntsmen and huntresses flooded the over crowded streets in order to hear the judgement. They began to read him his charges; sedition, dereliction of duty, murder...

They had him prostrated down before them; his sword on a dais before them. The council members felt secure in his binding; many even going so far as to say that he was as dangerous as a mouse. If only they knew then...

I saw what happened with my own eyes; I heard with my own ears. I swear I could even taste it on my tongue. The electricity in the air. Something was bound to happen. Something bad.

The council in their hubris 'gave' Sieg a chance to plead for mercy; to return to the fold as they say. Even from far away; I heard his words. 'Non Servia', I will not serve. From this day, many of the best blacksmiths swear that there was no way his chains could be broken so easily; nor so completely.

Sieg stood up and reclaimed his sword which lay right in front of the councilers. He then turned away from them and headed to the crowd. They shouted empty threats at him as he walked and ordered other huntsmen to stop him; yet none did. I, myself and ashamed to say that I was so wracked with fear that I dare not budge even a step towards his direction.

Sieg left Vale that day. Some say for the last time. Yet his actions had untold ramifications for all who wear the badge.

...

The ringing of the bell interrupted Oobleck from his impromptu history lesson and broke the spell of intrigue that had entranced many of the students in his classroom. Yet not one to remember his duties as a teacher he began shouting out the students homework as they collected their belongings and began to file out of the classroom.

Only Weiss turned to the the doctor; seeing the usually stoic teacher hunched over looking down at his desk with his back to the exiting class. She really didn't start understanding fully as to why he would be so downtrodden after a lesson until she passed professor Goodwich at the doorway to the hall. Nor could she forget the worried anger that was on Glynda's face as they passed each other.

She caught up quickly to the rest of her team and spoke quickly yet quietly. " We need to talk in the room about... stuff."

They also hustled to the seclusion of their bedroom and quickly got to the problem at hand; digesting the information of the Jaegers and trying to discover what was really going on behind the smoke and mirrors that the school faculty was putting up. Yet one nagging question the girls kept on circling around and never were able to answer was why attack the school? Or more importantly; why go through all the trouble of attacking the school and taking on the faculty if all they wanted to do was talk to Ozpyn?

Even as the sun set on the school grounds, they never could think of a reason...

Glynda was not happy; not one bit. Ozpyn gave the entire staff specific orders; under no circumstances must they answer any questions about the Jaegers nor openly discuss them and their organization. Yet here she stood in the doorway of Doctor Ooblecks' classroom, listening to him discussing the traitor Siegs' trial in front of the impressionable student. Not even a week had passed and Oobleck had already broken his promise to Ozpyn to not discuss the matter.

So there she stood looking down on the doctor who couldn't even face her, let alone meet her gaze.

"I know why your here Glynda... Despite what you think; I so sorely wanted to keep my promise to Ozpyn," Oobleck started ranting as he turned to her with a tempered rage in his eyes. " Yet I dedicated my life to the pursuit of understanding history and what we could take away from it. Then sharing it with those impressionable minds in hopes that they did not make the same mistakes as we did. Yet here we are; hiding the truth. For what? To satisfy our own ego. To hide the existance of the Jaeger; no better than that; to deny what fully happened to Sieg and what was actually discovered in the forest. Tell me Glynda; is our sins so great that we would doom our students to go down the same path? Is our hubris so strong that we willfully hide what is for what may or may not be?"

Oobleck turned away from her and looked back at the chalkboard at the front of classroom. "My wounds still hurt; even now after many years after the war. Each one a physical testimant to a history that every huntsman and huntress try to forget. Ozpyn probably feels the same about his leg. We lost many good friends and loved ones during the war; I can still see their faces. All the happy moments, all the sad moment. I saw them at their best... and at their worst."

Oobleck tightened his hands into fists as all the memories started coming back to them. " I was there to see some of my best friends look upon the world one last time before closing their eyes same could be said for you and your sisters. And Ozpyn and..."

Both worked hard to fend off tears of sadness and regret. "It is a disservice to the sacrifices they made; to hide what really happened. Even if one student is able to learn from the lessons that were forced upon us all; that is one less person who will be willing to make the same mistake."

So there both of them stood in silence; reliving the mental scars that the civil war brought upon them. Neither knew what to say next; or even if it was appropriate to say anything at all at this juncture. Yet finally the silence was broken by a sharp tap of a cane. In the doorway behind Glynda stood Professor Ozpyn; a cold expression across his face. He spoke slowly yet sharp; assemble the whole staff, Ozpyn was going to have an announcement...


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Dust &amp; Sand

On any normal day; Doctor Ooblecks class would be a long drawn out bore about ancient wars strung together by his rushed and frantic teaching style. But today the young huntresses of team RWBY were here on a mission. The attack on Beacon by the Jaegers peaked their interest about history and for once Ooblecks historical insight would be much appreciated.

As the students filed into the classroom; Blake was the first to notice their normally stoic and hyperactive teacher was downtrodden and a bit lethargic. It wasn't till the beginning class bell did they finally come to the harsh conclusion that they would not be happy with the answers that he had for them.

"Ok students, please take your seats. We have a long day ahead of us. Now about yesterdays assignment; who here would like to summarize the major factors that brought down the third kingdom? Miss Schnee, how about you?"

Weiss stood; prim and proper as ever; and replied, "Actually Doctor Oobleck, a couple of us were wondering if you would be so generous and continue with your lecture of Seig and the history of the Jaegers?"

Oobleck turned his back to the students and pushed up his glasses. With a stiff upper lip he spoke, "I am sorry if I went on a tangent yesterday. Even though the sudden arrival of the Jaegers have left many of you with multiple unaswered questions; I must continue in my role as a professor here at Beacon and teach you all the interesting history that has already been set out before you. So instead of wasting anymore time contemplating over things that you do not know; it would be best for the class to continue on with what is set out before you."

Weiss taken aback by Doctor Ooblecks words tried to interject yet he turned to face the students with a stern face. " Now if you don't mind Miss Schnee, major factors that brought down the third kingdom."

The class continued with no more discussion of the Jaegers much to the girls annoyance. As the ending drew near; Oobleck started writing down all the different information that was brought up in the days lesson on the blackboards. Many of the students tried to keep up with his writing; most have even developed their own shorthand style so not to miss any important nugget that they might had missed. As the bell wrang; Oobleck quickly erased the boards from left to right.

The final class bell rang; ending classes for the day. The students did as they always have and began to gather their belongings and filed out of the classroom to whatever destination they saw fit. All save for the four huntresses of team RWBY. They walked down to Ooblecks desk with concern in their eyes. Ruby was the first to speak. " Professor Oobleck, are you ok? Yesterday you were so gun-ho about telling us about the Jaegers; yet today it feels that you're not even willing to talk about normal history."

Weiss spoke next, " This has something to do with with Professor Goodwich at your door yesterday doesn't it?"

Oobleck just sat behind his desk drinking his coffee slowly. "Girls... As a professor, I want to give you the tools to learn, to grow into strong and wise huntresses. Yet I must also show that huntsmen and huntresses should follow the orders they have been given. To set a good example to my impressionable students."

He put down his cup and looked at each huntress slowly. " So I am unable to speak more about the subject..." He paused for a brief second letting his words sink in. " You have all that you need. All you have to do is look."

Without another word he stood up and before they could ask him to clarify; he was gone.

...

The girls slowly walked back to their room downtrodden that they lost their chance to learn about the Jaegers. They solemnly called it a day in their room and started working on Ooblecks homework assignment. Almost half an hour passed before the silence was broke by Weiss. " This is wrong."

The other girls looked up from their studies to see a perplexed Weiss. Ruby was the first to speak up, "What's wrong Weiss?"

Weiss turned to the other girls and showed her jotted down notes. " Look here. Also here."

She starts to point to parts of the notes so the other girls could see what's wrong. Yet none of the other girls are able to notice it. " These parts here have nothing to do with the third age. There are also some mistakes here."

Ruby looked quizzical at Weiss, trying to figure out what she was trying to get at. " Well maybe Doctor Oobleck made mistakes due to whatever stress he has been under."

Yang cut her sister off, " Or maybe he did it on purpose. Like he actually wants us to learn about the Jaegers even though he isn't allowed to talk about it."

Blake cut them all off, " We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Right now we should check all of our notes to make sure that there was anything we overlooked."

They spent the next few hours in a pregnant silence; each scouring their notes to find any shred of information that Oobleck let slip through. Finally they were able to dissect their teachers notes into a secret message. ' My dearest friend... Long long ago across the sand... Tonight we fly across the sky... For tommorrow we shall die...'

The poem continued on for a long while as the girls tried to understand what it meant. Blake, the biggest bookworm out of the four was the first one to identify the poem. " That is the last song of 'Dust &amp; Sand' the fictional tale of the the lost kindom of Remnant, Babel."

"So Doctor Oobleck wanted us to know about this song, why?" Ruby spoke with a quizzical look on her face.

" I don't know. It was just a song that my mother used to sing to me when I was a child."

Weiss thought for a bit, " I've never heard of Babel before, let alone the song."

" I'm not really that suprised. Babel was rumored to be a great kingdom ruled by faunus royalty during the second age of man. It was said to be the most advanced civilization when it came to military, cultural, and medical growth. The kingdom was brought down by a great coalition of kingdoms that were jealous of its great success. It was said that 'Dust &amp; Sand' was just one of a handful of books that talked about it. Yet no one has ever been able to confirm if Babel even existed." Blake paused for a second before continuing. " If I remember correctly the library had a hardback copy of 'Dust &amp; Sand' available."

Ruby stopped her in her tracks. " So we just need to go and get the copy to see if Doctor Oobleck left something there. Ok team RWBY; to the library."

They all stood up and cheered together as they raced to the library to find the much needed tome.

...

The library was unusually quiet today. Usually after classes had dispersed; many teams would congregate there for recreational fun. It was not uncommon to see many teams playing board games or socializing for hours there; much to the librarians chagrin. The library felt more like a mausoleum than a libray, with its barren open areas leaving an uneasy feeling in the girls' guts. Ruby looked to the other girls with a worried expression, " Lets just get that book and leave. This place is just creeping me out."

Yang looked towards her sister, " What's wrong sis?"

Ruby shook her head. " I don't know. Ever since the Jaegers attacked, I've just been getting these odd feelings of unease. Like I'm being watched. Even when we're in our room with the curtains shut. A part of me deep down is worried that I might not like the answers that we might find about them."

Blake walked in front of the girls, the bow on top of her head twitching. Beneath the bow was hidden her cat ears; proof of her faunus heritage. Her face also showing a little concern. " Back when I was with the Fang there was a rumor about the killer huntsmen and huntresses. It was said that they would always come on the cold nights. All those who were unlucky enough to encounter them were never seen again. Most of us thought of it more of an urban legend, something to scare the new recruits with. Yet the more that I've thought about it since the Jaegers appeared; the more I fear that the legend could be true. But even though I'm afraid of the answers; I still want to know them."

Weiss stepped right beside Blake and turned to the rest of the team. " There's no point worrying about what they might or might not have done. Right now all we need to do is find that book. Then whatever happens after that will happen."

The rest of the team agreed and began to spread across the library in search of the book. Yet one of the things that team RWBY didn't account for was their fellow students. Dust &amp; Sand should of easily been found in the fictional side in the 'D' section; yet after an extensive search, they found it buried beneath old perioticals that were set to be discarded.

" You know; I may not be the biggest fan of faunus, but even I get annoyed at people willfully discarding literature." Weiss continued to shake the book in front of her in a furious anger.

Blake could only look on in a somewhat dumbfounded expression. "Thanks... I think..."

The girls made their quick escape back to their room with the book in hand. Back in the safety of their room; they gathered around the book that now lay on Weiss' bed. The worn dirty brown cover teasing them to the secrets that might lay within. Ruby then turned to the other girls, " So who wants to be first?"

Weiss retorted in kind, " Leader first..."

Ruby picked up the book and opened it up; feeling the rigid spine give a little. She opened it up wider till she could feel something give way. From inside the book a small drive fell out and landed softly on Weiss' bed. Ruby picked up the drive and presented it to the rest of the team.

" You see. That wasn't so hard."

My name is Nocturne de la Salle. I.. was the team leader of NONE. My team comprising of Orcus, Nox, Eve, and I were sent to capture the renegade huntsman Sieg.

Sieg had already defeated multiple teams in his escape and part of me was worried for the safety of my own team. I know that we all are trained to fight other huntsmen in most situations; but this... He was a monster in every sense of the word.

Our first encounter with him was the Paradiso Fields that lay far southwest of Vale. It wasn't what I would consider the best engagement we ever had; yet Orcus was impatient and saw a chance to end it quickly.

The fields were heavily covered with the decomposing bodies of multiple Boarbatusks. Many of them were massive in size; almost double the normal size that most huntsmen would ever see. I stopped counting around the mid twenties just due to how many that were amassed there.

I had already assessed our situation and knew that we were already in over our head. Orcus ruined any chance for a surprise attack with his recklessness and that monster had time to react.

Both legs... I've seen some shit in my life but never anything like this. Sieg was so fast; even with that giant blade of his. Orcus was trying to cut him in two; right down the middle. One slash to end that monster for good. Or that is how it should of happened. Siegs' dodge was so quick and unexpected that none of us there even got a good mental image of his own counterattack. His movements were like a tornado of death in their lethality. I never saw his body or blade spin; his actions were too fast. The only way I could tell that Orcus was hurt was the massive amount of blood that came from his kneecaps.

In one impossibly fast swing, Sieg had dismembered both of Orcus' legs right at the kneecap. I never heard such a noise before in my life. His screams in pain scared the hell out me worse than any Grimm ever did. My stomach dropped when I saw him try and crawl away from that monster.

By this time both Nox and Eve were charging Sieg head on. Eve had both of her war fans out and Nox had both of her butterfly blades out. Their teamwork and choreography were some of the best to ever come out of Haven Academy, yet he made them look like third rank amateurs. I could see on their faces that they were trying to hit him. The annoyance and anger continued to grow as each strike missed by inches. Again, he demonstrated his inhuman like speed and reflexes as he struck hard blows on both of their windpipes.

Their bodies crumpled like sacks of potatoes; each one trying to catch their breathes. Eve chest started convulsing violently as she tried to get air into her lungs.

All the while he stood over them with an empty look on his face. Yet he finally turned his head towards my directions. His inhuman eyes piercing my being and ended any chance that I would draw my blade against him.

He drew his giant blade and pointed it right at me, balancing such a heavy blade with just one arm. He said that this fight was now over and that if we dare tried to come after him again; then he would slay all of us without remorse. That what he was doing was for the best of all humanity.

He walked off the field leaving our team utterly defeated. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't the last time we fought him. Our next encounter with him still haunts my dreams till this day. It was the massacre of Stillwater...


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Tempest in the Teakettle

Ruby awoke in her soft bed still drowsy from last nights events. The team played and replayed the first recording over and over again. None could believe that such an occurance could happen. Secondly that it alluded to an event later on at a place called Stillwater.

She slowly raised herself up to a sitting position and swung her legs off the bed and onto the cold morning wood below. She walked over to the book that still laid flat on the desk where it was left earlier. They had put the drive back into Dust &amp; Sand for safe keeping for the night. Her fingers slid across the rough cover feeling the texture. Just knowing that the forbidden knowledge of the Jaegers hid on a flash drive buried inside of the book sent a shiver down her spine.

She turned to where her sister and Blake slept in their ad hoc bunk beds. Finding Yang sprawled out with her sheets pushed down past her knees; with a bit of drool going down her chin. While Blake was curled in a ball underneath her blankets; letting out a low purr that most people wouldn't even notice, The look of peace and serenity that resonated off both of them calmed Rubys' body; removing any unsettling feelings that the book had stirred within her.

Ruby turned to the other set of bunk beds where Weiss and herself slept. She had expected that her bed would be vacant since she was already up, but what was surprising was that Weiss' bed also was empty. Ruby checked the alarm clock time and found it to be still early. There was no classes scheduled today and the team didn't have any early training scheduled either. Under normal circumstances Weiss would literally hibernate till near midday to catch up on what she called her beauty rest.

Ruby let any thought of it pass as she walked to her dresser and removed a new set of cloths and toiletries. She could already feel it now; the hot shower water pouring over her weary body. The scent of her soap hovering around her.

Before she could go deeper into her fantasy she felt a furry warmth at her feet. She looked down to her feet to see her families corgi, Zwei, looking up at her with his dark grey eyes. The normally happy go lucky corgi had a worried look on his face.

"What's the matter Zwei?" Ruby knelt down to the dog and rubbed his head right behind his ears.

All the dog could do was whimper as he turned his head to the desk that held the book. Zwei was always good at detecting when things were amiss and deep down felt that there was something really wrong with the book. Ruby could sympothize with the dog; she really felt uneasy with having such a dangerous item in their room. Even though the drive that is buried inside the book would seem harmless; just the thought of what secrets it held scared even the teaching staff. These fully trained and quite skilled huntsmen and huntresses were so afraid of this illicit knowledge that they downright banned anyone from even speaking about it. Just the thought of it made Ruby uneasy.

Ruby petted Zwei a bit more in an attempt to soothe the animal. "Don't worry Zwei, the book won't hurt any of us. Why don't you go keep Yang warm?"

Ruby patted the dog on his head and watched as he trotted towards Yangs bed and with amazing agility lept flawlessly onto it. She in turn gathered her items and left the confines of their bedroom towards the locker rooms and the warm embrace of the girls showers.

Ruby entered the girls locker room with a slight spring in her step as she couldn't wait to be under the shower spray. She still found it funny on how much she loved taking baths and showers now since she was so stubborn about doing so when she was younger.

Yet as she got to her locker; she noticed another girl sitting down on a bench. The girl was covered only by a big towel while her long wet red hair clung to her skin. At first Ruby didn't recognize who she was until she noticed the locker the girl was sitting in front of. The girl was Pyrrha Nikos of team JNPR. It was a rare sight to see her with her hair down. Usually she had her hair tied up in a pony tail with her decorative armored circlet keeping any stray strands of hair out of her face. Yet there she sat not moving, letting the left over drops of water drip from her hair and body. Pyrrha was always the pillar of team JNPR. Even when things went wrong for them, she was there to pull them together.

The expression on her face was anything but stoic today. Ever since the attack she had changed. Usually in any fight she would be the eye of the storm. Where chaos would swirl around her yet she would be untouched and unfazed by it. That man, Sieg, changed all that. For once, she was not the eye, but instead knee deep in the chaos. Pyrrha in that instant knew real fear as that man stood in front of her and incapacitated her with so little effort. She knew that he could of easily killed her if he wanted to and there was nothing she could had done to stop him.

It was not like she wouldn't of been able to react; on the contrary, she couldn't react. As her eyes met his stone gaze, any thought of defense instantly was broken. His grey eyes were cold as ice, the eyes of a remorseless killer, and they were piercing her body and soul. Never had she met someone so dominant and fierce in combat. Even now she has been unable to figure out a combat strategy that would actually be able to defeat him. He was just too good; too perfect.

Helplessness; she hated the feeling. She always took pride in her skills and combat awareness. Yet now here she sat; lost in her own little world of fear and doubt. For once she had so many questions and no answers, the thought vexed her deeply. Her team relied on her being their pillar, their constant. Even with Jaune finally coming into his own as the team leader; he was stil nowhere near able to take up the burden of being their pillar.

Ruby continued to keep her eyes gazed upon Pyrrha. Taking note how vulnerable she really was. The pain in her eyes mimiced Rubys' own a few days earlier. The feeling of weakness, helplessness, Ruby remembered those feelings all too well. Sieg defeated them with ease. The defeat hurt Ruby hard; yet compared to someone who was nearly flawless in combat as Pyrrha was, the defeat must had been worse.

Ruby walked up to Pyrrha and placed a hand onto her bare shoulder. "Pyrrha, are you all right?"

Immediately Pyrrha shot up like a rocket. Too engrossed in her own doubt that she didn't know that she no longer was alone in the locker room. Her hands immediately went to her towel to make sure she still stayed covered; for at most keep her modesty intact. " I... ah... Sorry I was in my own little world."

Ruby continued to look at her quizzically. " You looked kind of depressed. Wanna talk about it?"

Pyrrha was taken aback by Rubys words. She didn't realize that anyone could notice her internal strife. " I... ah... no... I'm all right. Just got lost in thought. I... ah... need to get ready for my teams... training practice..."

Pyrrha quickly discarded her towel and dressed in haste. Ruby watched the older girl dress and then leave the locker room. Normally Ruby would pester a person to talk about their problems, yet today felt that discretion was the better part of valor. As she began to undress her mind continued to think about Pyrrha sitting there solemnly. ' I guess my team wasn't the only ones dealing with the defeat by Sieg. I wonder, deep down, how Pyrrha is taking such a loss.'

She walked quickly to the showers and decided to put the thoughts of Pyrrha, Sieg, everything away for the time being. Right now all she wanted to think about was the nice hot water and the wonderful scent of her soap...

Rubys' shower seemed all to short and fleeting; the only remnant of it was the scent of her soap and shampoo flowing across her body. The walk to her room on the other hand seemed all too arduous. So much weighted on the young huntresses mind. Yet as she entered her teams bedroom she got an unexpected surprise.

" Ruby, oh my god where have you been?" Weiss was immediately in her face speaking with a nervous anticipation that betrayed her usual icy demeanor.

Ruby was a bit dumbstruck at all the commotion that had erupted in her short absense. Yang and Blake both looked like they had also recently been woken up and were still pretty groggy. Weiss on the other hand was speaking a mile a minute while waving her arms around like a mad woman. None of the other girls could keep up with her rushed speaking and complex diatribes.

Yang walked over to Weiss and put her hands on the other girls' shoulders and held her still. Yang got right into Weiss' face and gave her a hard stare before even speaking. " Weiss slow down. You're talking so fast that we don't even understand anything you're trying to say. Please... start from the top. But this time go slower so we can follow along with you."

Weiss was at first taken aback by the fiery blondes words until she recalled her stream of thought banter that had taken the rest of the girls by storm. She stepped back from the situation for a second and really took in the big picture. She had rushed headlong into their bedroom and not so gently woke up Yang and Blake. When Ruby finally returned to their room; she had pretty much bombarded her with information. The look on the other three girls faces pretty much summed up that they weren't able to follow anything she had said up to that point. So Weiss took a deep breath before trying to explain what she found again.

" Ok. We have a problem. I went to the library to look up any village known as Stillwater. Unfortunately all I could find in the books was Stillwater Lake. At first I didn't think much about it until I realized that all the books had been published in the past few years." Weiss paused for a moment and glanced around the room; examining the other girls who were waiting with bated breathe for her to continue.

" So I began looking for older books and articles on Stillwater. That's when I noticed that there was no books older than nine years in the library. The online databases also weren't helpful; mostly due to the database maps being constantly updated with new information."

" So what you're saying is that someone has gone to great lengths to hide any knowledge of Stillwater?" Blake cut in sharply; breaking Weiss' long speech.

" Exactly. Normally I would just consider this an oversite of our educational and logistical systems. But I was not able to find any information on Stillwater... Until I sent a request to the Schnee home offices for topographical maps of Stillwater Lake and surrounding areas. To be even more concise, I asked for all the maps for the past two dozen years." Weiss hesitated.

Ruby noticed her hesitation with ease. Weiss was usually so cold when it came to showing any emotion besides anger to anyone; so to see her acting so nervously meant that something was wrong. " Weiss, what happened when you asked for them?"

Weiss took in another deep breathe before letting it out slowly. " If it wasn't for the fact that I'm a Schnee and a good liar; we wouldn't have what I'm about to show you. Had to lie and say that I needed the maps for a class project about dust production and distrbution. Even then; these maps are very heavily guarded within the company."

She placed a small datapad on the dresser her and Ruby shared. She then turned on the projector part of the pad which then displayed a map of Stillwater Lake and the surrounding areas. " This is what Stillwater Lake is now; a very deep lake that is filled by two rivers. We have the Londark river from the north and the Shattered Lightning river from the northwest."

Weiss started messing with the datapad and the screen changed to a shot five years prior. " This is the same lake five years ago. As you all can notice; the size and shape of the lake are drastically smaller than the lake that is here today."

She messed with it again and an older picture appeared. " This one is from ten years ago."

This new map showed a deep hole with the lakes pouring into it like giant waterfalls. Weiss pointed up to Shattered Lightning river to show that it used to contain a lot more water than what goes through it now. The mountain walls were not so visible and in some areas only a few rocks were poking out of the water.

" Now for the last picture." Weiss changed to a picture that was over twelve years old. This new picture showed no lake. Instead it showed only two rivers converging into one massive river. The Shattered Lightning river was also under a different name. It was called the Forked Ligtning river; which made sense due to multiple smaller rivers merging into one big one, which turned upside down looked just like lightning forking as it strikes the ground.

" I digged a bit deeper into the Schnee Dust Company past to uncover a plan to build a small settlement at the convering of the rivers; as a main base for dust exploration. You can probably guess the name of the settlement..."

The other three girls knew immediately what the settlements name was without being told. Things were starting to come together as more and more of the picture began to be filled in. The unease in all the girls started to swell up in each of them as they all turned towards the book that laid on the desk in their room.

Blake was the first one to speak up, " We need to continue. Even if we don't like the answer that is finally given. Finding out the answers about the Jaegers will be the only way we will be able to move past the attack."

The other girls agreed. Ruby walked over to the book and lifted it up off the desk. She opened it slowly and removed the drive that hid all of the Jaegers secrets within. " Ok. Let us see what this thing shows us next..."

" Ok. Raijin, the drones are online."

Multiple humming sounds started to echo all around the five people that were standing in the dust filled canyon. Four stood at one side while the fifth stood apart from them. He gripped his greatsword up in his right hand with ease while he stretched out his left arm pointed towards them. His steel gauntlets and greaves shining brightly under the midday sun.

" You four. I remember you guys. You're team RIFT. Heard about many of your missions north of Vacuo. Especially surviving that day long siege at Prembrook village without suffering one civilian casualty. You guys have some guts..."

One of them walked towards the lone man and pointed his long sword at him. " Normally I would be happy to receive compliments from such a decorated huntsman, but this is business."

The three behind him started raising their weapons towards the sole man. " Sieg, by order of the Vale Council, you are under arrest for treason, sedition, assault, and murder of multiple huntsmen and huntresses. You are here by ordered to drop your weapon and come with us back to Vale where you will pay for all your crimes."

Another man stepped forward; staring daggers at Sieg. His own greatsword clutched tightly in his hands. " Raijin, save your breathe on him. He's nothing but a killer. Best we should do is put him out of his misery now. Heck they might even give us a medal for it."

The other three men looked at their bloodthirsty teammate. A third man, one who looked almost like Raijin save for the scar marks on his face, spoke next. " Invictus, shut up. We do this by the book. Just because you want to be bloodthirsty doesn't mean the rest of us do. We're not him. We're better than that..."

He lifted the mace in his right hand towards Sieg. Sieg took it all in stride; shrugging off all their comments with ease. He even lowered his blade and placed the tip onto the ground. " Oh. If this is a bad time for all of this; I can come back later. It looks like you four need some private time."

" SHUT UP FUJIN! JUST SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" Invictus stormed even closer to Sieg till he was right in the taller mans face. There was no denying the anger in his voice or in his posture. His whole body was tense and was ready to react. Whatever was originally brewing under the surface of Invictus' skin had finally started to boil over. There was an unneeded fight brewing and it seemed that both men were itching for it.

Behind all the other men stood a silent goliath of a man. The lone man who had stayed quite all this time rushed forward and his arms glowed brightly. All around his arms; snakes of fire sprung to life and began to encircle Invictus. causing a barrier of fire between him and Sieg.

Raijin walked towards the three men. " Thank you Typhon. I would prefer not to start a fight here."

His eyes turned to Invictus and his voice turned cold. " I don't know nor do I care what your reasons for being such a massive prick right now is. But I will be damned if you drag the rest of this team down in your blind pursuit of justice."

His demeanor cooled Invictus' temper and caused him to step back from Siegs' face. Typhon dropped his fire dust snake entanglement of Invictus and also stood down. " Now Sieg. I leave this decision up to you. Will you come with us peacefully or will it come to bloodshed?"

Sieg assessed his situation; taking in all the knowledge he already knew of team RIFT and all their actions that had happened so far today. Besides Invictus being a hotshot, the other three had been amicable towards conversation. " Thank you Raijin. The rumors of you being a level headed leader has appeared to be true."

" Sieg, spare the small talk. I really am not in the mood for it."

Sieg shrugged his shoulders at the abrupt comment. " Ok. Well may I ask you something. Do you know the reason why I disobeyed the councils ruling?"

The four men all gave looks of annoyance at Sieg. The last thing they wanted was him trying to con them with his sweet lies and misconceptions. The council warned them all about his silver tongue and strong will. They all were warned that even his great skills with a blade were nothing compared to his charm.

Raijin interrupted him, " Don't try to deceive us with your lies. We've been trained to ignore your silver tongue."

A light sigh came out of Sieg as he heard Raijins words. " So the council is still being as deceptive as ever. A strong word of advice; the council lies all the time. They have more secrets and skeletons than any one I have ever known."

Sieg stepped a few steps back and turned around; giving his back to team RIFT. He lifted his left gauntleted arm and began to undo the straps holding it to his arm. " The council is hiding the truth from humanity. Right now there is a threat greater than any amount of Grimm; one so great that every council has decided to hide all evidence of them. All the while, they have been sending teams of huntsmen and huntresses to their death on suicide missions in order to stop it."

Typhon walked towards him slowly as to show that he did not pose a threat to the man. " If that is true, what proof could you possibly show to support such an outlandish claim?"

Sieg could only grin as he lowered his left arm towards the ground; letting the gauntlet fall off of it. As it fell, the four men could only gasp in horror as darkened black veins webbed across his arm slowly stretching up towards his elbow. " These beings are called Sins. As far as anyone has determined, they are humans who are infected with an unknown disease. This disease..."

He flexed his arm showing the black veins pulsing. " As far as any of the doctors and specialists I have seen; whatever this disease is, it's virulent and it primarily feeds on a persons aura. I've seen multiple people in the most advanced stages of it. Where they are nothing more than husks. Any semblance of the person had long since gone.

The four men twitched and became uneasy as they heard him talk about the Sins. Each one of them became worried as it all started to sink in; they all have seen the few short skirmishes that Sieg had been in since his escape. He had that disease the whole time apparently. A disease that most huntsment didn't even know about and that they didn't even know how it was contracted. Heck they could already be infected by it and not even know.

Sieg turned back around to face the worried men. " Don't worry. At this level of infection; the chances of this spreading is very minimal. The only way you could be infected would be from infected blood."

He bent over and picked up the gauntlet from the ground and placed it back onto his bare hand and arm. " By the time someone gets to the point of being a plaguebearer; what ever humanity in them had long since gone."

His words up them at ease knowing that since they didn't engage him in combat that there was no chance that they would be infected. Unfortunately they noticed his face change from one of warm and greeting to one cold and stern. " Unfortunately, there is a dirty little secret worse than that. Let me tell you about the Sin Lords..."

The rest of his declaration was cut short as a loud noise came from Fujins' left ear piece. " Shut up everyone. SHUT UP NOW!"

Fujin tapped a few thing on the side of his belt and the noise was now blaring from the drones. " Brother what are we supposed to be hearing?"

" Wait wait. Give me a second to cut through the multiple signals."

Siegs' ears immediately perked up as he heard a few bits and pieces through the noise. " Fujin, switch to channel eight. Drown out everything else."

Fujin looked up quickly then realized what Sieg asked for. He switched the channels quickly to eight and killed the background noise. Tons of static screeched over the speakers as he worked to clean it up.

" Emergency emergency... code black... This is the Stillwater village... we're under attack... COVN... code black..." The message broke off and was swallowed by static.

Sieg lifted his sword back into his holster; his eyes red with anger and face full of rage. " I'm going to Stillwater."

Invictus stepped right in front of him. " Like hell you are. Give us one good reason to let you go there."

" If you want to see the evil of the council then go to Stillwater. See one of their secret hit squads in action. Me... I'm going to do something that should of been done a long time ago. I'm going to kill those psycho's COVN..."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Inquiries and Insecurities

"Um, Weiss, is the screen supposed to look like that?"

All four girls looked at the screen as it turned to static till finally the screen went black and powered down. Weiss' eyes grew wide with horror as she frantically tried to get the computer to work. As she ran through every possible solution her anxiety grew as she knew that it would be all her fault if something happened to that drive. The other girls just looked in pure shock as Weiss ran around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get the computer to work again.

The tension was finally broken with a sharp knock on the door; echoing deep through the room. The girls froze quickly in horror at the thought of being caught with the drive. Within a blink of an eye the girls collided into a giant dog pile in a mad dash to confiscate and hide the drive. As one girl would get close to the drive another would collide with her and balance out the stalemate. Finally the door burst open with a massive force; slamming it hard against the inner wall of the girls dorm room.

Hard sharp taps of the floor was the first indication that they were no longer alone in their room. Their first view of the person was of a dark black boot with a brown heel coming into view. As their eyes turned upward; the black boots turned into black-brown stocking. Their surprised eyes turned to horror as the business skirt and riding crop came into view.

The girls bolted to attention as they recognized who walked in the door. Goosebumps crawled along their arms and each of their spines turned ice cold as their eyes met her bright green death stare. Professor Goodwitch took a second staring down each girl in turn before speakin. " Girls, I expect an answer when I knock on your door. I know you all believe you have a a right to privacy while inside your dorm room; a belief that you need to discard immediately."

She paced back and forth between the girls causing sharp taps to echo through the room with her boot heels. " In all my years as a teacher I have never felt such a lack of respect from a student as I have now. What do you girls have to say for yourselves?"

Ruby started to stammer as she tried to explain why they didn't answer the door while both Yang and Blake stood silent. Ruby however couldn't conjugate words into comprehensive sentenses. Weiss stepped up and took a deep breathe to ease her nerves before she spoke. " I... a... we kind of broke our dorm room computer and were at first freaking out that it crashed. Then you took us by surprise as we were trying to fix it... and then we ended up stumbling over each other... so we couldn't get to the door to get you... and we're sorry that we broke the computer... and not let you in and... and..."

A sharp snap of Glyndas' riding crop shocked Weiss out of her rambling. " First... you girls need to take better care of school property. Second... the computer is not broken. The entire system has been taken offline for the time being. All computer access will be currently restricted to the Library until further notice."

Blake stepped forward to speak. " Um... Professor Goodwitch, what is the cause of the sudden restriction?"

Glynda stood stoic in front of the girls not showing any sign of fear or unease. " As it is very apparent to the four of you; the school was attacked less than a week ago by the radical terrorist group know as Jaegers. Since that time, Professor Ozpyn had been working hard to ease the concern of certain parties that are quite interested in the Jaegers. Unfortunately said parties have become uneasy at the slow pace of Ozpyns' investigation. That being said; the school will be host to many 'visitors' very soon."

She turned her back to the girls and walked towards the door. " That being said, I must urge you girls to show restraint... in all things. Also during this turbulent times; due to your insistance of getting involved with the protection of the school; there may be parties that would be interesting in interviewing each of you. So until our visitors leave there will be many restrictions to our facility systems."

Without another second of hesitation Glynda left the girls to their thoughts.

Hours passed and the girls found themselves inside the dining hall eating a light lunch when the humming started. The humming slowly grew louder and louder till it was the only thing that they could hear. Blake was the first to notice a small trickle of of students leaving the dining hall out to the main plaza. The trickle slowly grew till there was a mass of students leaving at an aggressive pace. The four girls looked at each other and proceeded in haste to join the flood of students going out to the main plaze.

As they got close to the door they ran into Jaune and the rest of team JNPR who were also curious at to what the loud humming was. Jaune clumsily stumbled over to the girls of team RWBY. " Hi guys. Guess you guys also got your interest piqued as to the noise?"

Weiss; being the usual ice queen she was to Jaune; couldn't help herself from letting out another scathing remark towards him. Yet Rubys' attention wasn't on their conversation and didn't even pay attention to Weiss' usual cold diss. No, her eyes were focused solely on the fiery red head that was uncharacteristically silent and sullen behind her fellow team members. After Weiss' and Jaunes' usual banter Ruby was able to get close enough to Jaune to talk to him quietly. " Um... Jaune, I was just wondering if you know what's wrong with Pyrrha? She doesn't seem to be her normal self."

Jaune looked back towards his secret crush before turning towards Ruby again. " I don't know. She's been like this ever since the 'incident'. Every time one of us even tries to bring it up; she gets all cold and distant. She's being more of an ice queen than Weiss... Which I would find amazing if it wasn't for her suffering."

" So I'm not the only one that noticed then."

" I know. I thought Weiss owned the rights to being the ice queen..."

Ruby couldn't help but give Jaune a nice friendly elbow to the ribs for his bad joke. Jaune quickly regained his composure and his words took a more somber tone. " it's not just that she's been cold or distant... She's training constantly. I don't mean her usual insane workout regime. I'm talking dangerous level of training. She's pushing herself to the point of exhaustion most days."

He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts before he continued. " She's fainted more than once due to the strain. I'm worried as to what is going to happen when she finally pushes the limit too far..."

Ruby looked towards him with a more concerned voice. " Well if I was the one being so reckless; then my team would of already sat me down and talked to me. How do you think we stopped Blake from being too reckless in her hunt for the White Fang?"

jaune could only hang his head down in shame as his voice started cracking with worry. " We tried that. This goes far beyond her desire to be the best fighter; this... this obsession with being stronger than that man has consumed her. Every time we tried talking about this obsession of hers; she goes from ice queen to towering inferno."

Ruby turned towards him with eyes of optimism. " Well don't worry. Ruby Rose is on the case. i won't stop till she's her usual bubbly self."

Jaune let out a soft smile as his heart was finally filled with much needed hope. His voice sounded a bit softer and a lot less worried. " Thank you Ruby. Even if she gives you the ice queen treatment... I'm glad that your willing to help."

" Hey, what are friends for?"

As both teams got past the doors and onto the main plaza; Ruby hung back from the others so she could have a word with Pyrrha. " Um... Pyrrha. Hi... How are you today?"

The older red-head gave ruby a cold empty stare and in an instant Ruby knew that her inner pain had only worsened.

" I was... um wondering if you would like to talk... about what happened in the locker room?"

Pyrrhas' eyes shot wide and before either of them knew what she was doing; Pyrrha was dragging Ruby far away by the arm. She didn't stop till they were out of sight of everyone. " You mustn't tell anyone about what happened in the locker room!"

Ruby noted the fear in the older girls voice and the tears that formed in her eyes. " What's wrong Pyrrha? You're not yourself. Everyones worried about you."

" I'm fine. I just..." Pyrrha turned away from the younger girl to hide the fact that she was becoming more emotionally shaken. " You were depending on me. My team was depending on me. Jau... Jaune was depending on me. That man, SIEG, took me out like I was a damn amateur. I haven't felt so helpless before in my life."

Ruby slid her arms around the older girl and gave her a warm hug as both of them felt strong emotions growing inside of both of them. " I was the one who rushed recklessly into combat with him. I made a mistake that almost cost us all our lives. It's not you fault..."

Pyrrha broke free of the younger girls embrace and spun around to face the younger girl. Her eyes showed a mix of fear and anger as she grabbed Ruby by her arms; squeezing both tightly. Her usually tight hair was slowly becoming more disheveled as the conversation slowly dragged on. " No you don't understand; I couldn't stop him! We all could of died because I couldn't stop him."

" We all were there. None of us could stop him. Not your team, not my team, not the teachers, not you, and not me. He was on a skill level that scares me. No not me; everyone. I still see it in Professor Goodwitches eyes, she's still as shaken as all of us." Ruby lowered Pyrrhas' hands from her shoulders and placed her own on top of them in between both girls. " Even so, I will not let him stop me from living."

" So your just content knowing that he would slaughter your whole entire team if you let him?" Pyrrha broke her hands free from the younger girls embrace and stared deeply into her silver eyes.

" No. But I won't let that fear change the person who I am." Ruby stared back into Pyrrha's emerald eyes; taking in her pain and sorrow. " But I am not going to kill myself in an attempt to grow stronger than him... Your team is worried about you. We all are. You are pushing your body too hard. You're going to end up hurting yourself if you keep on pushing yourself like this."

Pyrrha turned away from her again and sobbed quietly. " How can I compete against a monster like that if I don't train harder? I can't compete against that monster unless I train hard every day."

Ruby wrapped her arms around the older girl and hugged her tightly. " We're not asking you to stop. We're asking you to slow down. You're in no shape to challenge him right now. Worse yet; if we all faced off against him, you would be more a liability than an asset."

" But... but..."

Ruby embraced her tighter. " No butts. Go back to your normal training. If Jaune tells you to stop for the day then you stop. Remember, we're not asking you to stop improving yourself. We're asking you to slow down so if the time comes for us to fight him again; you'll be able to fight."

" I... ah... Thank you Ruby." Pyrrha turned around and embraced the younger girl. " I never knew that you were so empathic, especially cause your still so young."

Ruby couldn't help herself but blush at the older girls praise. " I have my team to thank for that. We already had a similar problem with Blake back when we were dealing with Torchwick. My sister was able to talk her out of being reckless in her pursuit for him. And look what happened; we finally were able to capture him and save Vale from him attempt to attack it using Grimm."

" Didn't he blow a giant hole into Vale to let those Grimm in before you stopped him?" Pyrrha snickered a bit after recalling how her team had to come and help team RWBY in the defense.

" Um... Excuses excuses. But the point is that we finally were able to capture him. And one day we will find and beat Sieg, together." Ruby give the elder girl a bright and infectious smile that she couldn't help but emulate. " But right now, we are going to go see what all the noise and fuss is about. Then you are going to join both teams in a round of couples Remnant: The Game."

" Thanks Ruby. That sounds wonderful."

Ruby and Pyrrha finally caught up to their respective teams and what appeared to be over half of the student body of Beacon. In front of all the students stood a majority of the faculty including head master Ozpin. His usual stoic face was showing more of an annoyant anger at the display that was taking place in front of his school.

Multiple airships, many carrying the symbol of the expeditionary fleet of Atlas, were landing or have landed in the field in front of the school. Out in front of all the ships strode a dark haired man with grey streaking along the sides. He wore a white overcoat with a grey undercoat and a blood red tie. He walked with a stride of strength and determination and showed a presence of assurance to all those that walked with him. His name is James Ironwood; General James Ironwood, defender of the realm of Atlas and supreme leader of its' expeditionary fleet.

Besides the two squads of robotic soldiers that marched lock and step with Ironwood; walked multiple men and women that Ruby couldn't recognize. All of them were in personalized cloths yet lacked any symbols or labels to determine where they were from. One thing that all the students that were present did notice was that all of those men and women were well armed in heavily customized weapons.

As the drone and humming of the multiple airships died out; Ozpin stepped forward with a slight almost unnoticable limp on his right leg. Both men eventually met a good distance away from the students and shook each others hand heartily. " James, what a surprise. What brings you back to Beacon?"

" We both know why we're here. Now for the real question, why was HE here?" Many of the men and women that walked behind Ironwood finally stood right beside him.

Ozpin examined all the men and women there while keeping a straight face. " I see. His appearance has gotten many of your attention. Well as headmaster of Beacon academy I bid you welcome to my humble school. If you all would be so willing, I will explain all that I can to you all in private." Ozpin turned towards the school and bid all of them welcome to it. They all walked past him as the sea of faculty and students parted to allow them to pass.

Ironwood was the last to leave as for he was waiting for Ozpin to accompany him. " You do know that we plan on questioning the faculty and students involved with the melee."

" I figured as much. " Ozpin nonchalantly quipped back. " I expect the council will have a lot of questions that they want you to ask."

Ironwood stared daggers at his friend and compatriot and growled under his breath at the underhanded jab at his motives. " We as huntsment serve the council; yes. But besides our vows to serve the council and protect the four kingdoms; we have a duty to seek justice for our lost brothers and sisters."

Ozpin looked at the general with his dispassionate eyes and sighed. " The war is over and the council has buried it under the sacrificies of those that died. No use of bringing up old wounds. They will do us nothing but cause us unneeded harm."

Ironwood stepped sharply in front of Ozpin cutting him in mid stride. " You still believe that? Even after everything he did? After all the lives he ended? Are you willing to forget all the evil that man has caused?"

Ozpin contemplated Ironwoods' words deeply for a moment before he responded. " The council had decreed that everything about the war be buried. So we bury it."

" So you're willing to forget all those huntsmen and huntresses that he killed? Even your sister... Even Gaile?.."


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Hell Hath No Fury

" I would like to thank you all for your concern over the matter of Sieg and his followers. I would like to to assure all of you as I have assured the Vale council that their return is nothing to be concerned about."

Ozpin stood with his back turned to his 'guests' and stared across the campus grounds. As he looked out upon the outer edges of the school grounds, he took note of all the airships that clogged its' boundaries. He took a long sip from his coffee while he held his cane tightly with his right hand.

" That is all well and good Ozpin but the fact stands that they came here, beat the entire teaching staff, almost 'killed' eight students, yet mysteriously stopped when you appeared. Not only that; you and Sieg spoke for what the council determined was at least ten minutes before they all left." Ozpin knew who the man was without turning around. His stern yet sincere tone spoke of hard earned honors and leadership through years of combat. Ironwood was always blunt in his opinion of the situation and never held it back from his friend.

" Now that right there sounds very suspicious. I doubt that Sieg would come all this way to talk about the weather." This other man spoke with a spiteful tone and barely held back his hatred for Sieg.

Ozpin finally turned around and searched for the unknown voice that spoke. He would had preferred not to face the 'guests' but he needed to gauge the situation before he felt comfortable in proceeding. " You could call his sudden appearance his way of showing the council that the Jaegers are still out there. More as a warning to the council than anything else."

" Ozpin, you out of all people know that Sieg doesn't do anything without a good reason. And we both know sending a warning to the council isn't it." A high sharp voice cut through the crowd and a woman wearing dark green scaled armor stepped forward.

" Ran... glad to see that you're doing well."

She stared daggers at Ozpin and raised her finger right in front of his face. " Can the pleasantries Ozpin. We both know what kind of man Sieg really is. Would you like to enlighten the crowd to the real Sieg or should I?

Ozpin only stared at the angry scorned woman; her anger was real. As she stood before him he thought back to their last conversation; a conversation that also dealt with Sieg. Ran and Sieg were more than just team mates; they were also at one time lovers. That was until he found someone better than her and left her with nothing but a deep hatred; or that is how Ran preferred to see it.

" After all these years Ran you still haven't forgiven him for leaving."

" Which time? The time he left his team high and dry while he went on his personal crusade against the council. Or when he left me for that harlot?" Ran imposed herself onto Ozpin cutting him off from the rest of the room. Many of the other huntsmen and huntresses started becoming uncomfortable as they watched the scene unfold in front of them. A few have even moved their main hands to their weapons just in case.

Ozpin saw a bit of pain behind all the anger in her eyes. For what he heard of their relationship; Sieg was her first love and she fell hard for him. He left her when he departed Vale after the councils ruling and left her with so much pain. " Please Ran. We all lost something during the war. But now is not the time..."

Ran grabbed Ozpin and slammed him hard into the glass behind him. " I SAID SHUT UP! I swear; if you're hiding anything from us; I... will... kill... you... And then I will find him and kill him... slowly."

Ozpin finally started showing emotion as a dark undertone was inflected upon his voice. " I promise you. I have nothing to..."

She slammed him again; this time harder. " No I promise you Ozpin. I will kill him and if you get in my way; I will kill you."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A booming voice echoed through the room as a man with a heavy metal gauntlet on his right hand stepped between Ran and Ozpin. His height and muscular build dwarfed both of them with ease. " I told you before we even came here that I will not allow your personal crusade to endanger our mission in any way shape or form. Unhand him, NOW!"

Ran let go of Ozpin and slowly separated from him and the taller man. Ozpin straightened himself up a bit and examined the taller man. He noticed that the gauntlet wasn't a gauntlet at all but was a part of a mechanical hand and arm. The man wore a heavy cloak with a steel chest piece and pauldron on his right shoulder. " Thank you sir. I believe that we have not been formally introduced."

The taller armored man walked slowly back to the group that had filled up Ozpins' office. He turned around and faced Ozpin again before speaking again. " My name Tyr Aesir of the house Valhallian. The united councils has placed me as the lead in the investigation of Sieg. Now unless anyone else wants to throw out any more empty threats of of violence; we have business to discuss."

The sun still hung high in the sky above Beacon Academy yet the school felt as if night had already took hold. The only noise that could be heard in the dorms came from the room that belonged to team RWBY. Both the girls and team JNPR filled the tiny room and all sat around listening to a small metallic device that was placed on the floor. The device was blaring the entire conversation that was coming from Ozpins' office while the teams drank in all the information.

Ren was the first to break the pregnant pause in the students conversation. " Valhallian, Nora that's the same bloodline as the Valkyrie's."

Nora turned to him with a deer in the headlights expression. She slowly dropped her jaw as she came to the full realization. " Oh my god. That's my uncle. Uncle Tyr, I haven't seen him since I left Mistral to attend Beacon..."

" So he's in charge of the investigation into the Jaegers then." Weiss turned towards Nora and examined the usually overly bubbly girl. Instead of her usual happy go lucky attitude she was holding her upper arms tightly with her knees pressed tightly against her chest.. Her fingers were gripping so tightly that they were going white. " Um... Nora... What's wrong?"

Ren was upon her and wrapped her tightly in a warm hug. They all looked on in amazement as he spread his defensive aura around both of them making it where nothing else could touch them.

Pyrrha moved in front of both of them so her eyes could meet Nora's. " Nora, it's going to be all right. We're all here. No one is going to hurt you. Ren what's wrong with her?"

" Her uncle, Tyr, is a very demanding person. He believes fully in duty and honor and that huntsmen and huntresses should act in an appropriate manner." Ren ran his fingers slowly though her hair as she slowly sobbed into her knees. " Let's just say that Nora didn't live up to his ideal of what a huntress should be. He broke her mind and body in an attempt to make her the best killing weapon. I did all I could to protect her and comfort her while we were still at our old school. Leaving for Beacon was probably one of the best days of her life. No more Tyr, no more pain."

Yang spoke up so she could be heard over the others. " So why is such a man in charge of the investigation if he is such a monster?"

" Because he has no agenda, no ulterior motive, nothing but the job. He can't be bought, threatened, or denied. He is fully loyal to the councils and will fulfill their order to the letter. What better blood hound could the council ask for?" Ren swiped a few tears from Noras' eyes and in an unexpected moment of true compassion kissed her on her forehead. " Nora, don't worry it will be all right."

" Um guys. Not to break up the moment but you all kind of missed the rest of the names." Blake had a pad in her left hand and a pencil in her right and looked sharply at the pad. " There's some huntsmen in there that we know."

Everyone else besides Ren and Nora turned towards the cat eared faunus who was up in her bed perch. " Who are they?" Ruby piped in.

Blake ran through the list to determine the first one that she knew. " Well we have the huntsman Typhon, formally of RIFT, now a part of Tyrs' team TTON. The other two members are Oni and Nemesis; never heard of them. There is Nocturn de la Salle of NONE, remember that his team fought Sieg at Paradiso Fields. There is Raijin, former leader of RIFT and new emissary of Vacuo. Still haven't gotten his full story. Let's see, there are a lot I never heard before. Atropos, Lucian, Medusa, a team called divides. Also our favorite general, Ironwood."

Jaune looked at the normally calm faunus girl and saw that her hands were shaking and her hair was a mess. " Ah Blake. Not to get off of topic but what's wrong? You're a little jumpy."

Ruby grabbed Jaunes' shoulders and turned him around and whispered lightly in his ear. " Well you see. We wanted to listen into the whole conversation but didn't want to be spotted, so we talked Blake into climbing the tower up to professor Ozpins' office. And when I said talked, I mean decided for her. And when I say climb, I mean we launched her up nearly halfway up the building and refused to help her get down until she got up to his office and placed the listening device."

" You WHAT?"

" Oh don't worry. She still has at most eight of her lives left. She's a cat after all..." Ruby patted Jaune on the back and they turned back to speaker device. " So anything else new?"

Yang turned to her sister and sighed deeply. " Nope. Looks like they are taking a break for the day."

" Well since their done will you guys catch us up on all this information that you somehow managed to get a hold of about the Jaegers?" Pyrrha crossed her arms across her chest and looked a bit defiant at the RWBY girls.

Weiss smiled towards the fiery red head and pulled a case from under her bed. " Well I knew that there was a possibilty that we wouldn't be able to use the school computers eventually in our investigation of the Jaegers. So I thought ahead and bought a personal computer for us to use. Ruby grab the drive while I boot this baby up. I guess it's time to catch them up to what we're dealing with."

Hours passed till a sharp knock on the door got everyone's attention. Weiss stood first and answered the door. Professor Goodwitch was on the other side all proper and stern. " Miss Schnee I am glad that you have learned your lesson about not answering the door in a proper manner. First off I must enquire if you know the where abouts of team JNPR."

" Oh their in here with us playing games. Why what do you need?" Weiss put on her best good girl face when she addressed Glynda.

" The councils of Remnant have compiled a team of huntsmen and huntresses to investigate the unexpected arrival of the Jaegers. As part of the investigation, the team has asked for interviews with all those involved in the incident at the school. Right now I must insist that you miss Schnee and mister Arc come with me to where the interviews are taking place. Now come." With that Glynda turned around and proceeded down the hallway with both Weiss and Jaune rushing to catch up.

They finally made it to the faculty offices where two tall men stood with their arms crossed along with a squad of Atlesian Knights. The taller of the two men stepped forward and ran his fingers through his coal black hair. " Hello miss Schnee and mister Arc. My name is Raijin Kakashi. I will be handling the interview with miss Schnee. My compatriot here will be handling mister Arcs' interview."

He waved to the shorter of the two men who wore an eye patch over his left eye. " My name's Skadi. That's all you need to know. Now stop wasting my time and get into the damn room."

Weiss watched as the shorter of the two men bully Jaune into one room while Raijin opened the door to another. She examined the taller man for a bit; noting his tall lanky build with wild shaggy hair on top. Yet she could tell that he never let his left hand get out of proximity of the longsword that was sheathed to his hip.

Her nerves started to ascend as she noticed the barren and cold room that laid in wait for her. She stepped into it slowly with the taller man blocking her escape back out of the door. Raijin pointed to the smaller chair that was at the far end of the barren table while he walked over to the bigger chair. " Please Ms Schnee, sit down. We have much to discuss..."

The questioning dragged on and on as he pushed her to remember every minute detail of the chaotic battle. Finally, he asked the question that she had been waiting for since they started. He asked if she had any questions for him. She blurted it out even before fully contemplating what she was asking. " Tell me about Stillwater."

It was a statement that she so wanted to speak since she heard his name. It was a statement she feared to speak due to what it meant. It was a statement that once spoken could not be taken back. The mood of the room changed instantaneously.

Raijin originally acted more aloof to the whole investigation. A part of him was just going through the motions of the interview, not really expecting these kids to offer any useful information. After he heard of those words; things changed. He stared long and hard at her. His shock gave way to fear and anger. His anger did not lie with her but due to the memories that her words brought back. The day he watched a village destroyed, of innocents slaughtered by those that had sworn to protect them, the day his brother died.

" Who told you about Stillwater?" Raijins' original shock turned into rage as all the dead memories of that day flooded back to him. He tossed the table like it was another piece of paper to him.

Weiss looked on in fear of this huntsman as his sword hand gripped tightly onto the grip. She could tell that he would like nothing more than to draw his blade and cleave her in two. " You huntsmen and huntresses try so hard to keep Sieg and his Jaegers such a secret that there must be a reason why. Going so far to even alter every map to hide what happened at Stillwater."

" What the councils did was for the protection of all. You shouldn't question their decisions." Rajin now stood right in front of her and looked down on the still seated ice queen.

Weiss couldn't help but stand to face this man in front of her. She had seen many men like him before in her short life on this earth that she knew how to push his buttons quite easily. Raijin was a yes man; he followed orders and didn't question superiors. She could feel her own emotions boil up inside of her and tried hard to keep her ice cold persona. Her teachers taught her well to stay dispassionate in combat. Emotions had a time and place and had no place in a battle. She was in a battle, yes, a battle of words. The victor would be the one who got what they desired and not acquiesce to the other. A battle that Weiss Schnee refused to lose.

" Or what?" She stood to face her opponent even if he still towered over him. " Isn't that how the Jaegers started? Because a man decided to defy the Vale council over them hiding the suicide missions? All because their afraid of what would happen if this Sin virus became public knowledge."

Raijin paused as he felt is rage abate from the girls' words. " I don't know what you've been hearing little girl but there is no such virus."

" So you're saying that your team didn't see his arm blackened right before the distress call came in from Stillwater?" Weiss could already tell that this battle was hers for the taking. All she needed was to twist the knife a bit more so he would spill the rest of his secrets. " We can do this the easy way or the hard way mister Kakashi. Give me what I want and this will end."

Weiss' eyes met Raijins and that is when she knew that her plan failed. He regained his composure so quickly that it shocker her. She had him and lost him so fast that it vexed her deeply. " Sorry miss Schnee but this conversation is over."

He walked over to the door and opened it quickly and quickly puller her out of the destroyed room. After she cleared the threshold; the door slammed quickly behind her. Jaune and Skadi both looked dumbfounded as they saw the rough treatment of Weiss. Skadi walked up to her with a big smile on his face and a slight bounce to his step. " I don't know what you did to get under his skin; but I love you for it."

Both students just stared at him for the longest time before Weiss turned to Jaune. " My room now!"

Skadi could only grin as he saw her drag Jaune down the hallway and out of view...


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The walk back to her shared dorm room was by far the longest walk that Yang Xiao Longs' life. She couldn't figure out which was worse; the huntsman Vladamir who did the interrogation, who couldn't stop giving rave reviews about her father Taiyang. Or the other huntsman Oni, who handled Lie Rens' interrogation. She swore that he was undressing her with his eyes. All she wanted to do was deck that arrogant ass right in the jaw. It was even worse because Vladamir made her wait till Rens' interrogation was over before she could leave back to the dorms. Yang guessed that Vladamir was just trying to find some dumb excuse to keep on pestering her about her father.

God, she wanted to beat the shit out of both of them severely. Those two pricks were gnawing on her last nerve and so were asking to have their asses smashed in. Even after Rens' interrogation was over those two pricks kept on at it. Vladamir wanted to get them all something to eat just so he could talk about her father some more. Oni only agreed so he could continue to eye fuck her.

She could of kissed Ren when he said that they had to get back to their rooms to change into their workout uniforms. Heck, if it wasn't for the fact that Nora would cave her head in with that hammer of hers, Yang would have. It still made her skin crawl though cause she knew Oni was checking out her backside as they walked away.

All Yang wanted now was a hot shower and nothing to do with those huntsmen. Yet as they got to Yangs' door, they could hear the elevated voices. Yang unlocked it with her scroll and let Ren and herself in to find the room embroiled in uncontained yelling. What both of them could tell was that Blake and Weiss were on one side of the arguement while the other four took the other side.

Ren tried to be polite and get everyones attention yet each side shouted him down before he could even get a word in. Yang on the other hand was already at her limit for being patient. That raw nerve of hers had finally got to its' breaking point. Sieg, Jaegers, the pervert and the pea-brain, all this annoyance that had stopped her from having fun at school; it was too much. Yang saw red and anyone who bothered to take a look at her eyes saw the same.

Ren, sweet Ren, saw it first. For all of Rens' skill, his wisdom allowed him to decide that discretion was the better part of valor. No one even noticed when he just moved so quietly to the corner and made himself unnoticed. All he could do was cross his fingers and pray to a god that also wouldn't want anything to do with what was about to happen.

Yang busted through the other girls and walked over Jaune who was curled up in the fetal position on the floor. She didn't stop till she had placed herself in the middle of them all. They all saw her and quite quickly they heard her. " WILL ALL OF YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR JUST FIVE MINUTES!"

They all looked at her dumbfounded as she was on the warpath in the middle of them. With each word her semblance went wild as her hair went skyward. " NOW WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! CAUSE I AM IN NO MOOD TO DEAL WITH ALL YOU STUCK UP PRINCESSES! ESPECIALLY WEISS!"

" Hey!" Weiss shouted back instinctively yet immediately regretted it due to Yang getting right into her face. Weiss jumped back as she saw Yangs' red eyes staring her down and drowning out any thought of protest.

" Listen I had to put up with a guy who wouldn't shut up about my dad and another guy who kept on undressing me with his eyes! So I am in no mood for games right now!" Yang turned to all the other girls to show that she was done taking anyones bullshit.

" Well you don't have to be all mean about it." Weiss almost whimpered it out as she looked at the more physical huntress.

Yang let out a deep breathe and gave everyone time to compose themselves. " Ok. So as I was saying. What is going on? Ren and I walked into a room full of yelling and didn't catch any of it."

Blake was the first one to speak up, " We were having a heated discussion over whether or not we should confront the delegation over what we know about the Jaegers. Ruby and Jaune are all for charging in there and getting answers. Weiss and I are preferring to not try for different reasons. Pyrrha and Nora are both siding heavily with Ruby and Jaune due to the fact that this might be the best chance we have to get a straight answer from them."

" The problem with Ruby and Jaunes' plan is that it won't work." Weiss piped in right as Blake ended. " I already tried to pressure the huntsman that interviewed me. For a second there I thought I had him before he regained himself. After that he immediately ended it."

Ren walked away from the wall and closer to the rest of them. " If what your saying is true then there would be no point in confronting the whole delegation. Together they would have unity and can just divert all answers to Tyr. Speaking from personaly experience of dealing with him; he is not one to divulge information."

Yang could only sigh. " Well unfortunately I gotta agree with Weiss and Blake on this one. Not to mention the fact that we don't even know enough to blackmail any of them into talking. Best bet is to see if the drive still has any nifty tidbits left to display."

Ruby frowned while Weiss set back up the display...

Raijin held his hand over his mouth in a vain attempt to block out the stench that now filled his mouth and nostrils. He stared across the landscape and took in the devastation that laid in wait for his team. Charred buildings and unknown remains were the only things that he could perceive however.

" Fujin is this it? "

" Yeah bro. Stillwater village. The Schnee Dust Companies exploratory village for the surrounding dust mines."

The five men walked slowly down the path towards the village and gazed upon the worsening destruction as they approached. Multiple broken tree limbs and building materials littered the path as they reached the entrance. As they walked closer to the center of the village; their worse scenario came into view.

In the center of the village stood a giant fountain that also stood at the communications tower for the village. Around and in the fountain was a blood red mass of body parts. The desecration was so bad that none of the huntsmen could tell where one body ended and another began. The tower itself was nothing more than a pile of scrap metal. Raijin doubted that they could even get it working again if they tried.

" By gods name. What the hell happened here? " The deeper voice he recognized was Typhon. The taller man wasn't one to speak so openly nor so vulgarly; so to hear him speak at such worried Raijin.

" I've never seen any Grimm cause this much devastation before." The shorter of the four huntsmen, Invictus spoke coldly.

" That's because Grimm didn't cause that." Sieg crouched towards the ground and took notice of the bloody prints on the ground. " These tracks are new. Heavy set. Four unique boot patterns all heading away from the village and into the dust mine."

Invictus turned to the renegade huntsman and scowled deeply at him. " So some huntsmen showed up already to defeat the Grimm that attacked.

Raijins' twin, Fujin turned to him with a worried look in his eyes. " The message did say that there was a team called COVN that was there. Maybe they were the ones that fought off the Grimm."

Raijin however only turned to Sieg for his analysis of the situation. Something was starting to stink badly here and it wasn't just the village. Sieg, for all the horror stories that Raijin had heard about, was actually not as evil as he originally believed. So if all the stories and allegations about Sieg were false; then what was the real truth. Raijin tried to put it out of his mind because he already knew that this mission had gone sideways.

" Sieg, what do you make of this?" The four other men turned to Raijin not believing that he would actually ask Sieg for advice.

" Yes and no."

" Yes and no what?" Raijin tried to gauge Siegs reaction.

" Answering Fujin. Yes COVN was here. No they didn't defeat the Grimm." Sieg turned to Fujin and nodded. " All evidence here points to the fighting leading to the dust mines to the south."

Invictus withdrew his greatsword from his back and held it out in front of him. He stared hard at the surrounding searching fot the Grimm. " Then there are huntsmen at the mines that need our help killing those Grimm."

Sieg could only sigh at him and wondered how this man could ever become a huntsman. " You're not listening."

Invictus stabbed the ground with his blade and turned towards Sieg. He had finally lost his cool dealing with this renegade. Invictus hated the fact that Sieg acted so high and mighty while dealing with his team. " Well mister god of huntsmen, why don't you explain it so us mortals can understand?"

Sieg himself was already past the point of annoyance with such an insufferable man. " What the hell is your problem?"

" Oh look guys, the great god can loose his temper." Invictus loved the look of anger on the younger mans face. " Be careful, he might defeat us with knowledge of how he is better than us mere mortals."

Sieg stared the other man down as he flexed his left hand. The thought that COVN was here had already tensed him immensely. He was still quite naive when he let them live the last time. This time he planned on fixing his past mistakes.

" I'm not the one you should worry about right now. Right now I'm doing everything in my power to keep your sorry ass alive. All the while you mock and scorn me for crimes that I didn't commit." Sieg finally had to turn away from him and stared deeply at the pile of bloodied bodies. " Look. Take a look at the fucking surrounding before you open your damned mouth. You might actually live long enough to apologize."

Typhon spun around Sieg and grabbed both of them by their collars. He pulled both of them close and just started yelling at them. " That's enough out the both of you. Stop the bickering and grow the fuck up."

" Thank you Typhon." Raijin started looking around at all the devastation. " Now Sieg, Would you please finish your observation."

Sieg broke loose of Typhons hand and stood beside Raijin. " I said it earlier. Grimm didn't do this; huntsmen did. More precisely the team called COVN. Calypso, Oni, Vali, and Nekros respectively. Their case file spans back ten years. They have been charged with multiple counts of murder, extortion, property damage, theft, and treason against the councils of Remnant."

" Then why would the councils send them out to hunt you?" Raijin immediately went for his blade and let his hand rest on the grip.

" Because they can be bought. They really have no morals what so ever. If you have enough money, they will do anything for you." Sieg continued to look at the pile of corpses. " Back when I went rogue the first time they were sent after me. Thought I saw the last of them when I turned them in the last time."

Fujin walked up besides his brother. " So you're saying that you were able to beat four psycho huntsmen by yourself?"

Sieg could only smile at the brothers when he heard the question. " I was trained by the best to be the best. Besides I wouldn't call them good huntsmen. Their sloppy and predictable. The only thing they truely excell at is causing massive destruction and bedlam."

" Well here's the question we all would like to know. Why did they do this?"

Sieg looked at Raijin squarely in the eyes. " I don't know. But I sure as hell am going to find out."

Team RIFT started hearing the echo of combat almost a mile out from the mine. As they came closer they started to notice massive blasts and smoke pouring out. The ground started to shake uncontrollably till the five men could barely walk.

" Fujin sit-rep."

" Rai, drones reporting massive dust blasts and weapon discharges coming from the mine." Fujin had to brace himself to a tree so he could stay standing while checking the incoming drone data.

" Then what the hell is causing the earthquakes?"

Sieg somehow managed to keep his balance while the earth was rumbling under his feet. " Someone is using the unrefined dust and crystals that are still embedded in the ground as a weapon. Be glad they haven't hit a dense pack of it yet."

Fujin turned towards Sieg with fear in his eyes. " Why? What happens when they do?"

" They'll see the explosion from Vale." Sieg gleefully grinned. " Now if you four are done pissing yourselves; we got work to do."

Sieg continued to walk towards the mine with the four team members stumbling along trying to keep up with him. As they got closer the blasts became larger and the ground actively shook and started to crack in places. The smoke and dust started darkening the sky above the mine and turned day to night. Each step turned into a struggle as they inched towards the mine.

Team RIFT finally caught up to SIeg at the entrance of the mine and each one got a view of absolute destruction. Below them was a massive pit that ended with a massive cave entrance leading north into the ground.

" I... um... wow. I never thought an exploratory mine could be so huge." Invictus tried hard to keep his jaw from hitting the ground.

Sieg turned towards the four men and gave a wicked grin. " What? Did you expect that you could just go out with a shovel and dig up dust?"

" Fujin do you have eyes on the cave entrance?" Raijin started analyzing the pit to determine possible escape routes and hazards. He kept a look out for any combatants through all the dust and smoke.

" Ok Rai, I got a drone on the located entrance. Looks like there are multiple obstructions blocking entrance or exit. Gonna swing around and..." A giant explosion echoed through the pit and forced them all to hold their ears. Fujin ripped off the headset he was wearing and grasped his ears in pain. " Ahhhhh... drone's down. Drone's down!"

" Typhon, Invictus on me. Sieg, you're staying with Fujin." Raijin withdrew his blade and flipped it into rifle mode; causing arcs of electricity to spark as the middle of his sword split into two seperate blades.

" Like hell. You DON'T know what you're dealing with. If you go down there without me then you ARE good as dead." Sieg spun his greatsword by the hilt and then held it in its' rifle mode. " Mine's bigger..."

" You both shove it. I'm fine Rai. Besides, you'll need all the help you can get when we get down there." Fujin slowly stood and put back on the headste. He then withdrew two smooth ball maces from his back and shook them hard. Both maces lit up with electricity and multiple spikes extended from them.

" Ok. Invictus take point. Typhon, you and me are watching the flanks. Bro, you and Sieg got our back." As a team they all moved down the path down to the bottom of the pit. Only when they got halfway down did they realize how much danger they were in.

Multiple weapons were scattered across the ground, many of which were broken. Farther on they started passing human remains, many of which were missing limbs. None of them could actually believe that someone could of survived the mess. That is until they ran across a giant kanabo hammer being gripped by a hand under a pile of corpses.

Typhon was the first to notice that the fingers were still twitching. " Raijin, we got a live one here."

Typhon was the first one to reach the hand and started tossing corpses and limbs off the buried body. The rest of the team rushed to help him; as Sieg stayed back and inspected the surroundings. Invictus and Fujin were the ones that finally were able to pull the man from the pile.

" Hey hey. Are you there? Can you hear me?" Raijin tried to get the mans attention while Typhon checked his body for any serious injuries. " Do you know your name?"

" His name is Oni. He's a member of COVN and if you're smart you'll get out of my way." The four men of RIFT turned in horror to see Sieg pointing his gunblade right at the man. " He has a date with Balmung here that I intend to keep it."

Raijin rushed forward and put his own body between Sieg and Oni. " Whoa whoa whoa. Calm down now. We can talk about this."

The other members of RIFT spread out and surrounded SIeg; each one looking for an opening to either subdue or attack him. " Sieg man, we've been cool with you. Please you don't want to do this. "

Sieg pierced Raijin with his cold grey eyes; unnerving the taller huntsman. " This isn't about what I want to do. I have to do this. For all of our safety he needs to die and his body burned."

" We're not going to let you do that." The voice came from behind Sieg. He knew that it was Invictus and could tell how far back the shorter man stood from him. " See Rai. He's nothing but a killer and a disgrace. The council was right about him."

" Sieg, you know how this looks. You best have answers now otherwise Invictus will get the fight that he wants." It was Fujin this time coming for Siegs right side. The crackling of electricity echoed in Siegs right ear and his arm hair stood on end.

" Code black. Tell me what a code black is?" Sieg turned to each man in turn. "Anyone? No one? Well let me explain what a code black is. Black as in black veins. As in carrier of the Sin virus."

" Wait. You're saying... I hope you're not saying what I... Seriously?" Raijin was a loss for words. Things started to rush through his mind as to what was going on.

" He's saying that the code black was called on COVN." The voice shocked Raijin due to it coming from behind him. All the mens eyes turned to the body that still laid on the ground. " So that's why Sieg wants to kill me. Isn't that right Sieg?"

" Oni, where is she?" Sieg stared daggers at the bloodied man and spoke in a deep heavy voice. " Where is Calypso?"

Oni slowly stood using his kanabo to support his battleworn body. " It's all your fault young boy. You just had to fight us."

" Sieg what the hell is going on?" Raijin looked over his shoulder to see Sieg aiming his gun at Onis' head.

" WHERE IS SHE?!" Balmungs' runes started to glow brightly as Sieg slowly started losing control.

" Can't you all tell. The destruction of the village. The massacre of all the people here." Oni stared back at the man who ruined his life. " It's all Siegs fault..."

Sieg charged towards him with only Raijin in the way trying to keep the two from fighting. Raijins commands to his teammates were gettind drowned out my Siegs' swear words and death threats towards Oni. The only think that broke through it all was a loud shriek of pain; right from Siegs' right side.

" By the gods..." Typhon was the first to see it. The others could only turn to see the horror that had transpired in near secret.

Fujin could only look down to see a blade protruding from his stomach. His body slowly grew cold as even the blood started to harden. His body finally went limp on the blade as an unnatural viscous black ice started oozing over it from the fatal wound. From behind him stood almost a shadow of a figure; hidden in shadow and his body mass. The figure withdrew the cutlass blade from out of Fujins' body and pushed the body forward. As it hit the ground; the body shattered into multiple pieces right in front of Raijins' eye.

The figure walked forward and lifted its' coal black tricorne cap to make eye contact with Raijin. " Hello there. The name is Calypso. Welcome to your funeral..."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

His head was screaming; the noise echoed through out it. No it wasn't his head; it was his voice. Raijin was the one screaming; an unintelligable primal scream of agony. Right before his very eyes he had just watched his brother get murdered in cold blood by someone he never even met.

Before him stood a tall gangly woman weilding a cutlass made of ice. She lifted her tricorn hat showing an inhuman smile and cold dead eyes; the eyes of a heartless killer. Behind her walked two approaching figures; one a short stocky man wielding a massive axe while another was a massively tall man wholes skin seemed to be sticking to bone. He weilded and even bigger black reaper scythe.

" I hope you don't mind that I brought two guys along with me for our next dance; dear Sieg." Her words were like poison and chilled Raijin to the bone as she spoke of mortal combat as nothing more than childhood playing. " I'm sorry that one of the boys you brought with you couldn't keep up with us. The poor boy just fell to pieces the first time I touched him."

" Calypso, you were always a sick fuck; but this is low even by your standards." Oni spat blood towards her as he tried to rise from the ground. The hate in his eyes was nearly on par to Siegs' own.

" Oh deary me. Boys, boys; we finally found our wayward playmate." Calypso continued to stay aloof towards the whole situation. The last time Sieg saw her; she was just a stone cold killer; but now, now she was something else. " My dearest Oni, you shouldn't worry us like that. Nekros wouldn't stop crying ever since we lost you at the village."

Oni tried crawling towards his kanenbo just for the fact that if he was going to die here; he was going to die with a weapon in his hand. " You slaughtered innocent people. Even after knowing where Sieg was; you still killed them all. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Calypso put a finger on her lower lip and tried to look cute while in contemplation. " Well Sieg was elsewhere. But I wanted him here. So I had to make him come here. And look; he's here. So my plan worked."

Typhon was the first to notice the blur of motion fly past. Even before Calypso could raise her blade; she found herself severed in two just below the chest. The blur continued towards the two men behind her and severed their arms and legs; amputating them within a blink of an eye. From a whirlwind of motion to nothingless; that is where Sieg now stood; greatsword burning brightly. The three surviving members of RIFT and Oni could only look dumbfounded as the three monsters that killed Fujin without remorse; had all been dispatched so easily. It was only when Sieg turned to them with a worried expression on his face that the others knew that something was wrong. " You should be running..."

A massive underground explosion knocked everyone back; away from where the three dead members of COVN laid. Typhon was the first to spring up from his back; back onto his feet. As he tried to make sense of what happened; he heard it; the high pitched, maniacal female laugh. His eyes focus towards the slowly rising body of Calypso; blackened strands stretching across where she was seperated in two. Her eyes were aflame with pure anger from being struck down so brutally. " Did you really think THAT would kill me?"

Sieg only grinned as he switched his blade into its gun mode and pointed it single handedly at her. " Nope."

The massive blast ripped apart her body leaving only the upper part of her chest and the lower part of her waste intact. Yet even before her body hit the ground; the black mass started oozing out of her in an attempt to put her back together. As this was happening; the two men that sided with her had both fully regenerated and now fought Sieg in inhuman combat.

Typhon noticed that out of all of them; he was the only one not lost in pure horror and shock to act. He manifested burning snakes of dust towards Nekros and bound him tightly; letting the snakes burn his flesh. The other named Vali however was locked in combat with Sieg; who was surprisingly losing. Vali somehow managed to put Sieg on the defensive; something that caught Typhon off guard.

" Damn it you fools. You're letting it control you." Siegs words caught on deaf ears of his opponent but struck a cord with Typhon. The impossible regeneration, the absurd strength; they must be by-products of the sin virus. Even before he could think on it clearer; his eyes focused on Nekros who somehow managed to corrupt his binding to the point of breaking them with pure strength. More impossible feats were being performed every second that it caused Typhons' mind to whirl in thought. No one had ever managed to break away from his flaming binds in all the years that he became a huntsman. Even the great heroes of his day considered that technique as one of the pinnacles of dust manifestation and manipulation. Each and every snake a marvel of practice and raw talent; yet in front of these monsters, they are nothing more than rotten twigs waiting to be snapped.

To make matters worse; Calypso had somehow put herself back together thanks to the black ooze that now covered most of her body. Most of her stomach was now composed entirely of it; after Siegs' blast. The only part of her that was worse for ware was her cloths which her shirt and coat not were shredded below the chest. She however looked ready to continue battling and had her eyes set on the rogue member of their team; Oni.

Oni finally got to his weapon and pulled himself up fully to his feet. He refused to die here; especially to his insane team members. His eyes focused on Calypso his; former leader. For all her promises of fame and glory; all that they ever achieved was an endless body count and a criminal record that was almost as long. He thought that catching Sieg would of given him enough leverage to finally split from those ingrates; but it looked like his dreaded luck was still ready to screw him over again.

" Oni, Oni, Oni. What shall I ever do with such an impertinant team member? Did I tell you to defect from our happy family?" Oni could barely look his former leader in the eye. She had finally lost what little sanity she had left and had become merely a monster in disguise.

" Damn you. You sodding witch..." Oni lifted his kanebo high over his head; sigils on all sides of it glowing; and slammed it down hard onto the ground. The ground rumbled and buckled under the weight of the blow as a massive fissure ripped forth from the earth and swallowed his three former team members and Sieg with ease. Oni; body already spent from his abuse before Raijin and his team arrived; collapsed on the ground.

Typhon ran towards the exhausted man and lifted him over his shoulder. Turning towards the two surviving members of his team; he could only silently hate himself for what he had to say. " We need to find the barricaded survivors and escape here immediately. If we stay here to fight; we will die."

Invictus looked like he was going to pop a vein by the way his face looked. After all this time of him bolstering about wanting a fight; the first time they came across one, he froze. Now Typhon was already saying that they should escape this battle. Invictus already knew that this battle was going to make history and he refused to be called a coward for retreating. However all his seething rage stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Raijin standing behind him; mentally broken and unfit for battle.

No man should watch his brother die; especially not how Fujin died. Raijin barely hung on that entire fight; yet the pain of loss had been to much for him. There was no desire for battle left in him; he was done.

Invictus tried his hardest not to show discuss as he turned back towards Typhon. Everything in his blood screamed for a fight; yet this was one time he had to give it up. " Fine... Let's go find those trapped people and rescue them..."

" Now isn't that interesting..." A voice from the window caught both teams off guard and they all leapt backwards out of more shock than fear. From the window stepped a tall man wearing a two toned grey shirt and black pants. All four girls from team RWBY shrieked in surprise and horror at recognizing the figure. It was Ruby and Yangs' uncle; Qrow.

" Uncle Qrow, what are you doing here?" Ruby tried to roll it off nochalantely that they were watching something that they weren't supposed to. Qrow didn't buy it for a second.

" The real question is how did you get your hands on that information that you've been watching? I remember distinctly that such knowledge was forbidden by the council." Qrow didn't really care that much for any of the councils that dictated the lives of huntsmen and huntresses; yet he had to instill the fear that what the girls were doing wasn't safe.

" Oh, you know. Class project..." Ruby was cut off before she even could continue.

" Ruby, you and Yang are the two most important people in my life. So if there was one time that you should absolutely listen to what I have to say; this is the time." Qrow let out a sigh as he saw a picture of Sieg on the screen. " Let Ozpin and the others worry about Sieg... He's already caused too much heartache on our family. I don't want anything to happen to you two because of him. If only Summer..."

Qrow stopped himself as he now noticed that everyone was staring hard at him. Ruby and Yang both had an expression of rememberance and fear as they heard Summers' name. " Sieg knew my mother?"

Qrow paused. " They were close once. Then she died. He didn't take it very well."

" So they were lovers?" Yang sprung towards her uncle out of anticipation for the answer.

Qrows' face turned sorrowful at those words. " Something like that. Sorry for disturbing you girls and boys. Yet this old man gotta report to Oz before anything else goes wrong."

Qrow walked out the door to team RWBYs' room and closed the door behind him. They could hear foot steps getting fainter and fainter away till finally they could tell that he was gone. It was then that the room exploded with gossip and rumor at the possiblity of Sieg and Summer being in love.

Jaune was the first to be heard over the others. " So Siegs' whole mission is to seek revenge on those people who killed the woman he loved? I don't know about that."

His words forced the conversation to a dead halt as every one paused to consider his statement. Pyrrha cleared her throat and removed the drive from the computer. Lifting it to everyones' gaze; she decided to give her opinion on the matter. " From what we have seen and heard from this drive; taking into account the attack on the school, and the actions by the councils and the huntsmen afterwards; I must agree with Jaune. This whole thing doesn't involve revenge. That being said; what Qrow said did bring about another important point."

Everyone watched as Pyrrha mimmicked Qrows' original movement and facial expressions. " We do know that Sieg and Summer were close; Qrows' body posture and expressions gave that away easily. Yet he also let it slip that Sieg didn't take the news well. A part of me thinks that the Sin Virus and Summers' death may be connected."

Both Ruby and Yang were shocked at such a revelation; they never thought for a second that Summer had anything to do with this. Yet now there was a possible lead to help explain everything. Blake however stepped forward to rebuke the statement. " Aren't we jumping the gun. There has been no proof that the Sin Virus had anything to do with her death."

Weiss in turn stepped towards Blake and placed a hand on her shoulder. " As much as it pains me to say thing; I think Pyrrha has a point. Like it or not; there is a connection between Sieg and Summer. Right now that is one of the only few leads we have in the matter save for the drive. Even if the lead only goes to a dead end; it is better than nothing right now."

" NO WAY! THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT CREEP HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH OUR MOTHER!" Yang was livid; just the thought of someone who could had killed them in cold blood having anything to do with their mother was unthinkable. " I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE. SUMMER WOULD NEVER LOVE SUCH A MAN!"

Ren got between everyone and grabbed the drive from Pyrrha. He looked at each person in turn and spoke in a soft monotone voice. " That's enough of that. I know that tensions are running high right now. I suggest that we stop for today and let everyone cool their heels before someone does something they regret."

With that; both teams parted; with team JNPR going back to their room and each girl of team RWBY crashing onto their beds. All the while the other girls could pick up the sound of Yang talking under her breath. " There isn't a connection..."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Red like Roses

A night on the town was what everyone needed after the events of the past few days; that's what everyone agreed upon. Even Pyrrha; the workout queen; had taken the night off to enjoy the wonders of Vale by streetlight.

This needed break was probably the best for Yang. Her temper had been getting the best of her as of late and out of everyone she needed the time to unwind. So that's why she was now flying across the highway on her custom motorcycle; Bumblebee. Nothing got her relaxed like weaving in and out of traffic on her two wheeled death machine. Yet the ride was only half of the fun; her destination was Juniors' club. Rumor has it that there was going to be an exciting new band playing there tonight and she refused to miss it.

As she got close to the club; she noticed however that there was a familiar figure walking into the club. Now her interest was really peaked; not every day one would see Qrow go in to see Junior. She didn't know however if he was going to give or recieve information however.

She parked her bike and walked towards the sharply dressed bouncer; who looked at her with a twinge of fear in his eyes. " Sorry girl. You can't come in today. Bosses orders."

Yang yanked him hard down by his tie so that their eyes could lock. " Look. I am in no mood to do the whole cute routine. Also I don't think you want to taste my fists again. So here's the deal; I go in and enjoy myself while you stay out here and enjoy the fact that you will still be eating solid food. OK?"

The bouncer let out a gulp before letting her in. He didn't care if he got fired; no amount of money was worth pissing that girl off. Yet as he turned to the next girl in line; he noticed a mass of red. ' Dear god. What did he do to deserve this?'

Inside the club the music was already going; a mix of funk and rock assaulting Yangs ears. She actually found the beat quite enjoyable and already decided that coming here was a good idea. Yet her good mood didn't last long as she noticed Qrow and Junior talking hushily at the bar. By Juniors' facial expressions; whatever they were talking about wasn't something Junior cared to discuss. Yang slowly started walking closer towards them; yet tried to stay out of their line of sight. Finally she got close enough to make out some of their words.

The conversation had something to do with a contact of Siegs'; Qrow believing that Junior knew the contacts location while Junior rebuked the statement. Qrow didn't believe him and and threatened to make his life a lot harder than it had to be. Junior then shot back that he wasn't afraid of Qrow and that what he was trying to do was protect the huntsman. " Qrow, if not your own good; then for mine; let this go. These are not the kind of people who forgive."

That comment right there made Qrow snap as he grabbed Junior by his vest and pulled him over the bar and onto the ground. " YOUR OWN GOOD? BE GLAD THAT I DON'T BURN THIS PLACE DOWN!"

" That's enough Branwen." From behind another mans arm yanked Qrow off of Junior and back onto the dance floor. Qrow stood up and unsheathed his blade with just enough time to block this cloaked mans sword. " You and Ozpin should of left good enough alone."

" I have nothing to say to you; you butcher." It was only when the mans cloak fell that Yang noticed who Qrow really fought. Steel gauntlets on each hand, massive two handed sword with a forming around the blade handle, two shorter swords on his back, and the unmistakable unruley black hair with a red hew to it. Qrow had found Sieg; god help him.

Both mens' blades crashed violently against each other and for once Yang noticed a frightening sight; Qrow wasn't holding back. He had been desperately trying to kill Sieg with each blow; yet Sieg either evaded or blocked with ease. The skill that he used such a massive weapon to block and parry sent chills down Yangs' spine. This fight wasn't a stalemate; Sieg could finish it easily, yet held back the killing blow. If it wasn't for the flash of red; the match would of continued unabated.

Sieg didn't want a fight; he just wanted to be left alone and finish what little work was left over in Vale to do before he left again. Yet Qrow just had to be himself and be the big ole saviour again. He refused to let the past be the past. If it wasn't for the fact that it would cause Yang and Ruby pain; he probably would of already killed Qrow and be done with it. Yet Qrow would never stoop so low to settle a debt; would he?

The flash of red crashed against his blade as he parried the spinning masses attacks. He recognized the fighting style anywhere and deep down his gut fell. Sieg performed a hard break; knocking the opponents weapon skyward; leaving the figure open for a frontal kick to the chest. With a mass of strength behind his blow; he sent the figure flying towards Qrow. " I though better of you old man. Thought you had some sense of honor left in those old bones of your. You always preached about how Summer would react if she knew what I did. Tell me Qrow, how do you think she would react if she saw you using her daughter as a weapon?"

Yang was shocked at the revelation. From the dust cloud that was caused from Qrow and the figure barreling into a pillar at high velocity; stumbled out a red cloaked girl carrying a massive scythe. Ruby charged him with a look of hatred in the young girls eyes. " Don't you dare talk about my mother!"

Ruby unloaded an unending stream of combos towards Sieg; who was forced to block each and every one. Yet try as the girl might she could not break his guard. Too bad he was so focused on her that left an opening for Yang. She ran headlong out of the crowd and sent a right straight across his jaw; sending him flying towards the stage. Yet he somehow managed to rotate his body so that his feet hit the stage instead of his head. He shot back towards the two girls and then past them; sending a blast of wind at them; knocking them both off their feet.

" Damn you Qrow for getting the girls involved." Sieg turned towards the stage and shouted. " Apollo, I'm going to need a beat to fight to."

On the stage, Apollo put down his signature trumpet and strapped on a guitar while two young women dress in hooded cloaks; one red the other white; took to the mics'. " Coming right up."

Qrow was now back up to his feet as were both of the sisters as they tried to block Sieg in. They didn't care about why Sieg asked for music; they just wanted him defeated. All three charged him as the music began and the red cloaked girl began singing. " I couldn't take it; couldn't stand another minute..."

All three charged Sieg. " Couldn't bear another day without you in it."

He blocked Qrow, parried Ruby, and blocked Yang. " All the joy that I had known for all my life."

Ruby swung her scythe horizontally causing Sieg to fall back as Yang jumped over her to try and blast him on his head. " Was stripped away from me the minute that you died."

Sieg stepped left to dodge the blonde girl. " To have you in my life was all I ever wanted. But now without you I'm a soul forever haunted."

Both girls noticed that Sieg was singing in tune to the song and seemed to care more about the song than the fight. " Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted; No way in hell that I can ever comprehend it."

Now both girls had stopped fighting him as they saw tears appear in his eyes. " I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone. I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong. How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay? Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single fucking day."

Both girls became enthralled by the lyrics that they lost notice that Qrow and Sieg still fought. Deep down there was a reason why Sieg had the band play this particular song. " Its' like a movie; but there's not a happy ending. The scene fades black, and there's no pretending. This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well. There's no shining knight that will save my from this spell."

Qrow now was increasingly pissed. Not only did that bastard have the audacity to make a song about Summer; he had it played right in front of Ruby and Yang. Qrow couldn't forgive him for this. " I know you didn't plan this. You tried to do what's right. But in the middle of this madness..."

Qrow swung down hard as the back up singers cut in. " I'm the one, I'm the one, I'm the one."

" You left to win this fight..."

Sieg blurred with inhuman speed and struck Qrow hard across the temple with a backhanded fist. " Red like roses... Fills my head with dreams and finds me... Always closer... To the emptiness and sadness...That has come to take the place of you.."

Qrow was left stunned by such an act of speed that Summer never could match. Even as blow after blow of punches and kicked riddled his body. As Qrow started getting overwhelmed; the singer in the white cloak began singing. " I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness... You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness... Wish I could talk to you, if only for a minute... make you understand the reasons why I did it."

" i wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered... want you to know that for eternity i'm shattered.. i tried so hard just to protect you but i failed to... and in a prison of abandonment i've jailed you." Sieg continued to beat Qrow black and blue till he finally gave up resisting.

Leaving Qrow passed out on the floor he turned back to the band. " I never planned that I would leave you there alone...I was sure that i would see you when i made it back home and all the times I swore that it would be okay... now i'm nothing but a liar and you're thrown into the fray."

"This bedtime story ends with misery ever after. The pages are torn and there's no final chapter. I didn't have a choice I did what I had to do. I made a sacrifice but forced a bigger sacrifice on you."

Sieg walked towards the sisters with tears in his eyes and kneeled down to their height. " I know you girls have lived a nightmare. We've caused you two so much pain. But girls please don't do what I did. Don't wastes your lives in vain."

As their eyes met the Jaegers eyes; they saw a deep sadness that they never saw before. The song was a good choice as it showed the wavering emotions that each one held inside. Before either girl could even respond; he hugged both of them as both cloaked singers began the chorus. " Red like roses... fills my head with dreams and finds me... always closer... to the emptiness and sadness... that has come to take the place of you."

Ruby just looked at the mans grey eyes and couldn't help but feel that there was more to him than anyone would let on. " Who are you?"

Sieg cleared tears from his eyes as he finally got to see how big both the girls had gotten. " Just a ghost from the past..."

Before he could elaborate; the ending of the instrumental caught his attention and he pointed towards the stage. Both singers pulled off their hoods to expose black wigs with a red tint to them. They both took the stage opposite of each other and acted like they were going to battle with words. " You're not the only one who needed me i thought you understood..."

" You were the one I needed and you left me like I always feared you would..." The red robed girl turned her back towards the white robed one as she sung; bringing how she hated the fact that she was left.

The white robed girl walked towards her and acted like she was trying to plead forgiveness. " Would I change it if I could?"

The red robed girl turned to confront her as they sung in unision. " It doesn't matter how the petals scatter now. Every nightmare just discloses. It's your blood that's red like roses and no matter what I do nothing ever takes the place of you.."

Neither Ruby or Yang noticed Sieg leaving; they had become entranced by the band and the two female singers to even care. As he walked towards the back exit; he threw a bag of money towards Junior for all the trouble he caused.

Junior could only nod as he watched the Jaeger walk towards the exit. Despite the years they spent together in their youth; the man that was leaving was just a pale shadow to the greatness that he once was.

Sieg stopped right at the exit due to his desire to hear the end of the song. "Red like roses... Fills my head with dreams and finds me...Always closer...To the emptiness and sadness... That has come to take the place... of... you..."

" Sleep well sis; you're daughters are just fine..."

It w'as becoming a habit of winding up in Ozpins' office after one of their adventures.' That was the first thing to cross Rubys' mind as she watched Professor Goodwitch pace back and forth as she waited for Ozpin to return.

Her and Yang had been taken directly there after the fight at Juniors' club; while Qrow was taken to the hospital for his injuries. Atlas military had literally locked down the club and arrested Junior and most of his staff on charges of harboring a fugitive.

She didn't know what plans General Ironwood had for either of them either. Once word had gotten out that they had fought Sieg; he had locked himself inside his ship and was said to be on a live chat with many of the big wigs on the council. Word had it that there was even talk that he would force Ozpin to expell them from Beacon Academy after this recent event.

Yet underneath it all; she was glad that tonight happened. She learned something about Sieg that she doubt that drive would ever be able to show her. He had an emotion that wasn't rage or emptiness. Also deep down there was a greater connection between him and both of the girls that Ruby deeply wanted to explore. Her attention finally turned towards her sister; Yang; however.

Yang had a very stern, serious look on her face that betrayed her normal demeanor. Yang was always so carefree and rarely had such a serious look on her face outside of combat. Ruby could tell that Yang was thinking on something and that trying to remember was plaguing her. " Yang, what are ya thinking about?"

Yangs' expression broke as she took notice of her sisters question. Yet before she could answer; Glynda cut them both off. " Both of you quiet; not a peep till Ozpin arrives."

" But we didn't do anything wrong..." Ruby tried to rebuke the woman only for her to turn towards her and stare daggers at her.

" You seriously do not know how much trouble you two are in." Glynda walked coldly towards the seated girls. " You should not be surprised if Ozpin expells you for this mess."

" Glynda... I would like it if my staff didn't speak for me in my absence. It would make things a lot easier to clean up." Ozpins' sudden appearance shocked all three of them present. His slow walk over towards his desk; paying no attention to Glynda; only increased it. " It is with great pleasure that I would like to announce that Qrow should be up in about a day or so. So knowing him; he should be trying to escape right now."

Glynda turned towards the headmaster and just glared at him. " I'm glad your being so carefree about this; but I doubt the council will be so willing to overlook this incident."

Ozpin put his cup down and turned towards the female professor. " As head master it is my duty to handle the council. Thus I would like to remind you that it is your duty to see to the learning of the student."

He turned to confront her; causing her to flinch in fear of his abruptness. Ozpin was never one to anger easil so whatever happened has caused him to be on such a short fuse. Glynda stayed silent for a long while before responding. " If it is the will of the headmaster; then I will attend to my students."

Ruby and Yang could only look at each other as they watched their teacher retreat from Ozpins' office with hurried haste. It was only after she left that Ozpin turned his attention towards the girls. " I don't know why you were at that club nor do I care. Unfortunately, due to this recent incident, the council has decided that for the time being both of you are confined to Beacon Academy. You will only leave this academy on either class assignments or when you are shadowing a trained huntsman or huntress on a mission. Do you both understand?"

Both girls nodded slowly at the headmasters. " Ok then. You both are dismissed."

Ozpin turned his back towards them to signify that their conversation was over and expected both to leave. Yang had other ideas. She stood up and walked towards the headmaster with only one question on her mind. " Headmaster Ozpin; who is Sieg?"

Ozpin didn't even bother to look towards her as he responded. " You already have the answer to that question."

Yang refused to be deterred this time. " Ok. Let me rephrase the question. Who is he to us?"

This time his eyes widened in revelation and horror yet he stayed silent.

" Don't give us the silent treatment. There is a connection there that everyone of you have done your hardest to hide. What is his connection to Summer Rose and why the hell does it piss everyone off?"

" THAT'S ENOUGH YANG XIAO LONG! GO TO YOUR ROOMS; THAT IS AN ORDER OF THE HEADMASTER OF BEACON!" Ozpin couldn't even look at either of the two girls as they paused. He was never one to raise his voice; yet today he had yelled harshly at two of the best and most talented girls he had in the school. Dear god; how these demons of the past have crept back into his life. He even still felt the numbing pain from his leg coming back.

Knowing that no answers were forthcoming; both girls left Ozpins office and walked back to their room with a story to tell the rest of their team...


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Falling Petals

The cold night air was crisp and prickled at Ruby Roses exposed skin as she looked up at the night sky from the Beacon courtyard. She tried wrapping her red cloak around her tigher but to no avail. Yet she refused to return back to her room to put on warmer cloths.

She had a restless sleep and eventually gave up trying to fall asleep entirely. So that was what started her journey out to the courtyard wearing only her pjs' and her cloak. If Weiss wasn't already passed out; she would of scolded the younger girl for being reckless. ' You shouldn't go walking around the grounds dressed like that. At most you'll catch a cold.'

Neither Weiss nor Blake were happy to hear that they had a run in with Sieg while at Juniors' club. Both thought that they should of called for back up when they saw Qrow and Sieg fighting. Yet they became more concerned with what happened after it was all over.

There was actually a lot of security walking around the academy now; mostly Atlesian Knights. Every entrance and exit out of all the buildings had at least two guards on duty. The school was acting more like a prison now; with Ruby and Yang being its first set of prisoners.

" It's not right. We did nothing wrong, yet we're being punished for it." Ruby let out a soft sob as she reflected on her predicament.

" Young girls shouldn't be crying old tears; it's unbecoming a lady." A voice from behind the bench that she sat on made her jump from surprise. She turned quickly to notice a very well dressed man in a nice suit and tie with a fedora on his head. She couldn't place the face right away; yet noticed the trumpet case in his hand.

" Wait... your Apollo. You're a..." Apollo cut her short of speaking the last word.

He walked around towards the front of the bench and sat down next to the young huntress in training. " Just so you know; he asked me to come here to say that he's sorry. Seems that the council still refuses to use their pea brains and would rather overreact."

" You're talking about Juniors' club." Ruby turned towards the older man and saw that despite his good looks; he was tired.

" Him and Qrow go way back; tons of bad blood there." Apollo slid a finger across the brim of his hat and pulled it down a bit over his eyes. " Sad thing is that they used to be good friends and training partners; Ozpin too."

Ruby was stunned by this revelation; she never expected that Ozpin and Sieg was so close. " Then what happened? How my uncle and Ozpin act now; it seems that their mortal enemies."

Apollo let out a small chuckle when he heard her talk about Siegs' former relationships. " Time; that's what happened. Even the best of friends of youth will still suffer the endless march of time. What friendships were ironclad what seemed like years ago have now rusted and decayed thanks to time."

Ruby thought about Apollos' words for a second before speaking. " I don't think the friends I make here will ever end up like that. We're a team and nothing will change that."

Apollo leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. He could only sigh at the girl and her optimism of the future. " Sieg thought that way too; once. Then Summer died and everything changed..."

Ruby turned sharply towards the man with a look of shocking revelation on her face. Every adult has been throwing her mothers name around right and left; yet refused to explain why. " Mister Apollo, I got to ask you something. People keep on talking about the relationship between my mother and Sieg yet refused to talk about it. I believe that there is more then what they are letting on and you're probably the only one that I could get a straight answer from. So what was Siegs' relationship to my mother? Were they lovers?"

Apollo didn't realize that he would of been so shocked by being asked such a question. He knew that in coming here that there was a high possibility that either her or Yang would of asked it. Yet it still filled him with a sorrowful pain when he heard it.

He looked out towards the distant unknown that was blanketed in darkness and contemplated what to say for the longest time. " Sieg loved your mother deeply, miss Rose. She was honest, caring, loyal, and could make some of the best food on Remnant; or so he says. She was the most devoted mother to her two loving daughters and was the only one who he could confide in. She never judged his decisions once; she just listened to him and then always asked him what he planned to do to fix any mistakes he made."

" So... wait, he even knew me and Yang when we were growing up?" Ruby was caught off guard by this stunning new revelation.

Apollo nodded. " Like I said. There's a lot of history between them."

" Yet, you still didn't answer my question. Who was he to my mother?" Ruby was dying to know inside. She needed this more than anything else right now.

" No I didn't, did I." Apollo stood up and began to walk away from the girl; yet stopped when he felt something wrap around his left arm.

" Please..." Ruby was almost to tears and she held onto the mans arm for dear life.

" Sieg or should I say Kuro knew your mother for all his life. He didn't become Sieg till after her death. And now he is doing everything he can in order to protect the two greatest treasures his sister ever had; her two daughters." Apollos' words took the breathe from Rubys' lips. All this time; why Sieg never tried to kill them even though he had many opportunities. It was because she was his niece. " I'm sorry miss Rose but I must be leaving now; the next patrol should be coming soon. Yet I do bring you a gift from Sieg; I do hope that this will sate your appetite for knowledge."

As she let go of Apollos' arm; she felt him put a small device between her hands. He turned to her and bowed slightly before walking towards the cliff edge of Beacon Academy. From there he fell into the darkness of night; leaving her there in tears of joy.

In a darkened alley of the Vale Warehouse district stood a cloaked man leaning against the wall. He had been waiting for some time and was starting to get worried that his associate had gotten captured on him mission. The man kept on checking his old clockwork watch with nervous anticipation; praying that he didn't send his friend on a suicide mission. Finally another figure appeared from the darkness; dressed in a nice suit and fedora hat. " Sorry about the wait Sieg. Did ya miss me?"

" Apollo, it was supposed to be a simple drop off and return. What the hell took so long?" Sieg had a hushed yet stern voice. He wasn't happy that he sent Apollo into the lions' den; especially with Ironwoods' goons still lurking around.

Apollo just slid a finger across the brim of his hat and chuckled. " Sorry boss man. Ran into little red and had a bit of a chat."

Sieg lifted an eyebrow at Apollos' comment. He only started talking like that when he did something that he thought he would get in trouble for. " So what did you do wrong this time?"

" I did what everyone else was too chicken shit to do; even you boss man." He slid the brim of the fedora over his eyes. " I know you're gonna be pissed but seriously; she needed to know. Also before you kill me; I did give her your gift."

He didn't know if he should of been mad or happy at Apollo. Of course he would of preferred to tell the girls himself; yet he doubted they would believe him. Like seriously, who would tell someone that they were related when they were in the middle of combat; especially if one of them already lost a hand. All he could really do was sigh. " Well I'm not happy about it but I doubt Qrow was gonna say anything. Raven might of but she's off the grid again."

" Do you really think that Raven would of bothered? She never really forgave Taiyang for marrying Summer after she went on her long ass quest." Apollo just shot that look of 'this is your disfunctional family we're talking about look' towards Sieg.

" Raven was always a pain in the ass. I just fear that eventually she'll drag Yang down the same path." Sieg let out another sad sigh. " Even though there's no blood between me and Yang; I still care for her."

" You're a good man Sieg; despite what any one says about you." Both men grinned a bit and let all their worries go vanish.

History it seemed was the only thing that tied any of them together. Sieg gave up everything on his mission; forsaking the care of his two nieces to their father. Sieg didn't really dislike Taiyang; but the man had also become a shell of his former self after Summer died. To make it worse was that she was the second woman that he had lost. The pain he must have felt was unbearable. One day, he hoped that he could meet his brother in law under better circumstances and maybe mend some damage done over the years.

Yet Siegs' moment of reflection vanished as he heard the unmistakable sounds of heels clicking the cement coming from the street a couple of feet away. " Oh look at what I found here. Two wanted criminals of the huntsmen councils. I hear that Ironwood would love nothing more than to add you two to the collection of convicts that he gets to break."

Sieg turned to the effeminant voice to see a woman in a military cut uniform of dark blue on top of pure white; the colors of the Atlesian Military. She had ice blue eyes and long white hair bunned up at the back of her head. In her right hand she wielded a rapier that he could tell wasn't just for show. " Well if it isn't the Ice Queen herself. I didn't know that Ironwood had it in him to send a lap dog to hunt a wolf. Yet I'm really not in the mood today little girl; so would you be a dear and just go before you get hurt."

" Lap dog? Lap dog! You dare insult me like that you little worm!" Sieg took notice of the speed glyph on the ground underneath her; especially the rotation and form. He could tell that she was willing to go all out to attack him. " Be prepared to see the true might of a huntress who studied under the tutelage of the Atlas Academy."

Winter blasted off from the glyph like a rocket; closing the distance in near record speed between her and the two Jaegers. She was going to plunge her blade right through Siegs throat so the thought of escape would be virtually impossible. Finally the head of this wicked snake called the Jaegers would be at least imprisoned if not dead and she would be rewarded handsomely. She was so close to landing the blow that she could almost feel it. The vibration in her body... vibration?

Sieg didn't bother to move from his spot. He could of dodged or blocked most of her attacks without having to move. Her bladework was so refied that she would be telegraphing each and every one of her attacks even before she swung. Yet even then he didn't have to do anything after all. The deafening blast of a trumpet filled his ears as he looked on at the Schnee girl slow down to a stop and then get sent flying backwards by a shockwave of pure sound and fury. Sieg turned his gaze towards his associate. " You really didn't have to do that. I could of taken her down easily and without the noise."

Apollo could only grin at the other man. " Didn't have to. But wanted to. Besides I gotta show the world that a trumpeteer can take down an Ice Queen."

" Just don't get carried away just because one of your dads protege's got beat by her sister. I would prefer not sending her into intensive care." Sieg turned his back towards Apollo and walked the other way out of the alley.

Apollo turned his attention back to the recovering Winter. " Well now where were we? Oh yes, I was about to give you a show to die for."

The morning sun was barely cracking the horizon when the knock on team RWBYs' door came. Blake, being the lightest sleeper out of them all; was the only one to realize. She crawled out of bed and put on a dressing gown to answer the door. What she got when she opened it was a shock. In front of her was General Ironwood with two Atlesian soldiers and the huntsman Tyr in tow. Without even being asked; Ironwood stepped inside their room. " Miss Belladonna is it?"

" Yes general. What can I help you with?" Blake was still a bit groggy and was trying her best to be polite so early in the morning.

" I need you to wake miss Schnee. Something has happened to her sister." Ironwoods words instantly removed any lingering thoughts of sleep as Blake rushed towards Weiss' bed to start waking the girl.

" Weiss, Weiss. You need to wake up. It's important." Blake rocked the girl back and forth in order to stir the girl.

" Bla...Blake? What's wrong? What time is it?" Weiss tried to get a hold of herself as she tried to focus her eyes and ears.

" Ironwood is here. He says something has happened to your sister." Blakes' words cut through Weiss' sleepiness like a hot knife through butter.

"Weiss shot up straight and turned towards Ironwood. " What? What happened to Winter?"

By that time the noise had awoken both Yang and Ruby from their slumber. Yet Weiss didn't seem to care; her only focus was on her sister. Ironwood just stared towards her with a nervous look in his eyes. " Miss Schnee, I need you to come with me. Everything will be explained to you when we get to our destination."

Weiss quickly changed into some clothing that was suitable for travelling in and left quickly with Ironwood. All the while the other three girls just looked on in shock at what was happening and wondered what all they missed during the night.

That was when Ruby remembered the drive that Apollo had given her last night. She had tucked it under her pillow for safe keeping; so afraid that she might lose it otherwise. Right now wasn't the right time to bring it up though; something big happened last night and Weiss wasn't going to be in the mood to learn anything more about the Jaegers any time soon; if at all.

Ruby just slid flash drive back under her pillow and tried going back to sleep. She could use extra sleep...


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 - The Point where it Bends

The smell of overly cleaned and disinfected; that was what filled Weiss' nostrils. Even by her families standards of clean this was overkill. Yet given the circumstance of what this place did, she could understand the necessity.

In the early morning General Ironwood had dragged her out of bed and escorted her in utter silence to the Vale Emergency Hospital. Now they were passing through more and more tighter security as they slowly made their way to the intesive care section. Finally, they got to a secured door that was protected by two altesian robotic guards. Ironwood flashed a badge at their optic sensors and they parted from the door to let both Ironwood and herself inside.

Weiss focused on all the massive medical equipment inside the small pure white room. There was tubes and wires swarming over the figure that now lay in the bed; yet as hard as she might, Weiss couldn't make out who it was. She turned to Ironwood who continued to have a stern look on his face. Before she could ask him about the person; he spoke. " Weiss, I know this is going to be hard for you to take but that person laying right there is your sister Winter."

The young huntress in training literally had to do a double take as she looked at the person laying in bed and back towards Ironwood. She found it hard to believe that her nearly perfect sister could be beaten up so badly. So badly in fact that Weiss couldn't even tell that it was Winter. " Wha... what happened to her?"

Ironwood turned towards the young girl with a look of hatred in his eyes. The attack on Winter was an insult and an act of war to the Atlesian Military. " What we believe had happened was that she ran across one or more members of the extremist group; Jaegers. I know that I don't need to explain these radicals to you miss Schnee."

Weiss gasped as she heard that her sisters attacker was a Jaeger. Weiss didn't even know that her sister was back in Vale let alone a part of the contingient of huntsmen and huntresses that were sent to track down Sieg and his ilk.

" From the battle damage and her injuries; we have concluded that at least one of the attackers was the jaeger Apollo." Ironwood paused as he judged the young girls expression for any sign of weakness or betrayal of thought. " The doctors say that it is touch and go for the moment and are not willing to give any absolutes at the moment."

Weiss walked over to her sister; yet was so afraid to even touch her hand due to it being covered in sensors and tubes. Those Jaegers did this to her sister and Weiss doubted that they even cared if she lived or not. Even though they fought over multiple idiotic things and might not of seen eye to eye on many other subjects; not even Winter deserved this. " Can I have a moment alone with her?"

Ironwood walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to confort her. " I'm sorry Weiss Schnee but you can not. I had to pull a lot of strings in order for you to even see her. The possibility for outside contagion is something the doctors are not wanting to risk."

Weiss felt tears running down her face but didn't care; she was only cold inside. Sieg and those Jaegers; all they ever do is take and destroy without regard to those that get trampled on the way. She swore that one way or another she was going to make them pay. For Weiss now; this was more than just duty. The Jaegers had made this very personal.

As Weiss Schnee exited the room; Ironwood could only look on in disgust. He never liked seeing young girls suffer unjustly. Yet from a darkened corner of the room a door opened and walked out two figures. One being a woman with long white hair and ice blue eyes; wearing an Altesian military outfit. She would be a shining example of a military officer if it wasn't for her arm being heavily bandaged and in a sling.

The other was a massive man with a mechanical right arm and wearing a custom armor ensemble that held no insignia or rank. " You did good Ironwood. The Schnee girl will be a perfect mole within the school ranks."

Ironwood could only glare at the tall huntsman in utter disgust. Even though Ironwood lived a military life the thought of using children as weapons and spies sickened him. " Tyr, I just want to make one thing known. I don't like this idea. I didn't like this idea before. I don't like it now. I will never like this idea no matter how well it might or might not succeed."

" That is why it was not your decision to make; it was mine. You are only here due to the fact that we were fortunate to have an alternate replacement due to Qrow vanishing so quickly." Tyr let out a low growl at the thought of Qrows disobediance. The original plan was meant to use Qrow as the bait to turn Ruby and Yang; the two most important girls; into spies for them. " Thankfully your subordinate was lucky enough to run across Sieg and Apollo during her search. Otherwise we would still be at an impass."

" You don't understand a thing Tyr. You think that by doing this that it will bring you closer to apprehending the Jaegers; yet your wrong. The only thing that you will be doing is breaking the bonds of loyalty that these huntresses depend on for support." Ironwood was getting more and more disgusted at Tyr by the second; yet tried showing restraint in his words and actions towards the bigger man.

" Funny words; coming from the man who indoctrinates his students into becoming soldiers for him." Tyr crossed his arms over his chest; letting his muscles flex. " For a man who loves turning children into weapons; you sure are high and pious when it comes to making them spies."

The smug look on Tyrs' face made him sick. Despite Tyrs' years of service to the huntsmen and the council; Ironwood could never condone the mans methods. " I ask many things from those that choose to follow me. To spy on those their fellow members is not one of them. Now if you excuse me; I need to make a report to the council."

Tyr just scoffed at Ironwoods statement. Tyr had served the council for longer than Ironwood wore the badge. Nothing the man could say would sway the councils judgement on how Tyr performed his mission. " Yes. Go run to the council. Please send them my reguards."

Ironwood turned away from the taller man and left with Winter in tow. After they left; Tyr turned his attention to the body lying comatose on the bed. " Go on and play soldier Ironwood. I'll be here to clean up your mess. That is what I'm always here to do; clean up everyones messes. Am I right Invictus?"

He walked over to the front of the bed and placed his mechanical hand over the bodies mouth and held both the mouth and nose shut. Tyr could feel the body slowly convulse under the lack of oxygen; yet was too weak to really flail around. All around the machines were going haywire; showing a massive spike on the persons heart. Finally the body slowed to a stop as the machines flat lined. Tyr had just killed the huntsman Invictus in cold blood and not a soul would ever know. " Cleaning up after everyone. One mess at a time..."

Another morning at Beacon Academy was in full swing with many of the students crowding the dining area to fill their bellies with piping hot plates of pancakes and waffles or cold bowls of cereal and milk. Two such teams sat at their usual table that many of the other students had dubbed ruffian row; due to their infuriating amount of food fights. Most of the other students eyed them with a nervous gaze today due to them being overly quiet compared to their normal demeanor. At least a few of the students moved to tables closer to one of the many doors to the dining area; just in case they needed to vacate quickly. Yet the two teams who were short one white haired princess at the moment didn't seem to care in the slightest.

The conversation had to be hushed. Even Yang and Nora; the two usual loud mouths of the teams kept their voices down today. Both Ruby and Yang had to go over the whole incident at Juniors' club with JNPR. As the other team heard the events; they couldn't believe their ears. The one who seemed the most nervous however was Pyrrha.

Pyrrha still hadn't forgiven herself for her earlier defeat at the hands of Sieg and still held a strong grudge towards the man. Even after she promised Ruby to take it slower in her training; she still snuck off when she could to get in an extra run or push up regimine in. A part of her actually wished that she would of followed either of the two girls that day instead of lying about going to the park to relax; so she could do weight training at the gym. She resisted her more primal urge of revenge and focused more on the details of the events. It struck her as somewhat odd that Sieg would lay such an over the top trap for them there. As she thought on all the interaction a bit more; she realized that violence wasn't Siegs' main goal. He had something else in the works for the two girls and that it would take more than what both teams had to give if they planned to thwart him.

As the breakfast crowd finally began to disperse; Ruby turned towards her six friends while pulling a small object out from her pocket. She lifted the object so everyone there could see it in all its' glorly. " Last night I was given this drive. It was a gift from my uncle; Sieg."

Most of them originally shrugged off the comment about Ruby and Yangs' family tree before eventually catching themselves. All of their eyes shot wide as their voices filled the dining room with loud screams of surprise.

Other students who still hadn't finished their breakfasts started eating faster as they expected a new food fight to break out at any moment.

Yang grabbed Ruby by the shoulders with her outstretched arms and looked deeply into the younger girls eyes. " Wait, what do you mean uncle?"

Ruby tried to pull away from her bigger sisters grip; yet was held firmly in place. " Um, that's our uncle..."

Everyone just looked at Ruby quizzically; they knew she was saying words but the words that she was saying made no sense. " No no no no. Ruby your confused. Sieg attacked our uncle, Qrow."

It was only then that Blake spoke up. " You do realize that a person can have more than one uncle." Blake was the only one who wasn't completely shocked by this latest revelation and was willing to take Rubys' comments at face value.

Pyrrha crossed her arms across her chest and looked nervously towards the faunus girl. " Yet what you are saying is that two of their uncles despise each other so much that they are willing to go to blows? I find that hard to believe."

" Back when I was... well before I came to Beacon; I saw stuff like that similarly happen to families. Where two brothers had a falling out over one of them joining the White Fang while the other would prefer to work within the system for change." Blake tried calming herself as she prefered not to bring up any part of her past to her team members and friends. Though she did notice that in talking about this one incident that happened; she got them to realize that some things are possible. " Eventually the brother that joined the White Fang was never heard from again."

Pyrrha thought on Blakes' words for the longest time; while everyone else waited on bated breathe for her response. " So it boils down to ones own personal beliefs then. Thus their hatred towards each other stems from them being at odds over the others conflicting beliefs."

Blake nodded in agreement of Pyrrhas' assessment. " Given all that we have witnessed and have gathered; at this moment in time; that is what I believe. Unless anyone else has a dissenting opinion."

No one else could think of another plausible explanation with all the facts that they had aquired so far; so they let Blakes opinion be the leading fact for the moment. Around this time however; a new figure had walked into the dining area and towards the table. Everyone that was gathered there; turned to see Weiss slowly making her way towards them.

Weiss' eyes were red and her cheeks were filled will darkened lines from her makeup stained tears. The look of utter desolation upon the normally stoic girl was painful to look at. Ruby; being the girls' team leader and partner to Weiss; was the first one to get to her. " Weiss, what's wrong? You left so early in the morning today that you got us all worried."

Weiss could only look at Ruby with a vacant expression on her face. As Ruby continued to look upon the heiress; the rest of their friends surrounded them in hopes to confort the girl. Yet no comfort could heal the would the Jaegers had caused her. Her sister was in a hospital bed clinging to life because of the Jaegers, and when Weiss finds their leader Sieg; she will show him the same mercy they showed Winter.

Before Ruby or the others could get a response from her however; there stood three people behind both girls. The group looked behind Ruby and Weiss to notice the arrival of headmaster Ozpin, professor Goodwitch, and Ruby and Yangs uncle; Qrow.

Ozpin walked towards the young heiress and put his hands upon the girls shoulders. " It is alright miss Schnee. Everything will be alright; I promise you."

Weiss could only give the headmaster a blank stare as he tried comforting her. He then abruptly started escorting her away with Glynda in tow towards the exit. Qrow stayed behind to deal with both of the awaiting teams however. " Sorry about the mess girls. Seemed like there was some family drama that happened last night for miss Schnee. Oz and Glynda will take care of it though; so don't go worrying your pretty little heads."

Qrow sat upon one of the dining tables facing both teams. He looked upon their young faces full of hope and dreams of adventure and felt a small pain inside; remembering how his team was back when they were younger.

" Um... uncle Qrow. I have something that I have been meaning to ask you." Ruby fidgeted with her fingers as she was a bit ashamed to ask him after all that happened.

Qrow however stayed calm and collected as he pulled out his flask and took a swig of its contents. " You want to know if Sieg is your uncle?"

Everyone's shock was so apparent that Qrow couldn't help but laugh. He knew one day that they would find out about Sieg and his relationship to Ruby and Yang. Qrow just wished that it would had been years down the road; when they became full fledged huntresses. " Well, let me put this out there right now. The man named Sieg is no ones family; he is nothing more than a ruthless killer who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants."

"Yet..." Yang knew there was more than what their uncle was saying. Qrow had a habit of lying or omitting the truth in certain situations in order to save the girls some heartache. Both girls had gotten so used to his lies that they expected him to never give them a straight answer.

" Before he became Sieg; hell before there were Jaegers; he was known as a man named Kuro. A mix of raw talent and skill that you rarely get to see in a huntsman. Years ago; both Oz and I trained him in fighting till eventually he was better than both of us combined." Qrow gauged everyones reactions to this revelation by looking towards everyones eyes. Over the years, he had gotten quite good at determining as to what other people were thinking by the movement of their eyes. " But that's about it."

Ruby and Yang both noticed the cut short answer. " But is it true?"

Qrow just looked at his young niece with a quizzical expression. " Is what true?"

" Is Kuro my uncle?" Ruby dared ask the question that she wanted to know most of all. A part of her was afraid to ask due to the fact that Qrow and Siegs fight was so fresh in their minds.

Qrow dreaded sticking around now after hearing his nieces question. This was a question that he wished he would never have to answer; yet today he had to. " You kids and your wild ideas. Well I guess I should be getting back to Oz now."

Yet as Qrow tried to stand up; he found his niece Yangs arms slamming him back down onto the table. " Not so fast uncle."

Qrow could only look on in disbelief as Yang stood imposing in front of him; with her eyes buring red. " Sorry Yang. I don't got time for any more war stories today. Qrow has important work to do.

As he tried standing up again; he found that Yang pushed him back down. " No you listen uncle. I know that it has been you that has been thwarting my progress of finding more about MY mother. Which I know you are only doing that out of some preconcieved notion of protection me from being hurt. But I'm willing to let that slide."

Yang turned towards her sister and gave her a quick wink before turning back to confront their uncle. " Ever since Sieg and his Jaegers had shown up; everyone and their brother has been worried about mine and Rubys' safety and well being way more than they should."

" I don't know what your talking about." Qrow tried just blowing off her statement as nothing more than a delusion yet Yang didn't buy it.

" Don't play dumb uncle; it's unbecoming a huntsman." Yang began staring down her uncle out of pure frustration. " Don't think I haven't noticed all the extra guards appearing out of nowhere where ever either one of us goes. Or the fact that even Ozpin is rattled by all this commotion."

Qrow realized finally that their hard worked plan had backfired brilliantly in their faces as he heard her words. " We're not asking you where we could find Sieg and his group. Personally, we could care less as to what their doing. All we want to know is why the hell is everyone being so paranoid about it."

Finally the blonde huntress in training relented her verbal onslaught towards her uncle. Qrow turned his eyes towards Ruby and then back to Yang. He could tell that they had a strong determination to know the truth and nothing he could do would change that. " Fine; you think your ready for the truth? Well here it is. Yes, Kuro was Summers younger brother. He idolized his big sister and wanted to prove that he was as great a huntsman as she was a huntress. The last day I saw him however was at her funeral."

" Kuro grew so distraught over her death; that he left Beacon during his final year in order to go kill the monster that killed his sister and all those that were with her. I don't know what happened during that time but the man named Kuro never came back. He developed this whole Sieg persona and from then on only served his own desires." Qrow lowered his head in shame of it all. " Many of us have been worried that he might try and convince you into following in his footsteps. So we've been trying our hardest to keep an eye on both of you."

" Is that all uncle?" Yang could only stare at her troublesome uncle.

" No but that is good enough for now." Qrow lifted his head towards the group; which caught everyone off guard at seeing such a worried face on the man. " But remember; not all monsters are grimm."

Before they could get him to elaborate; he slipped free from Yangs grasp and began walking out of the dining hall. As he reached the door; he turned his gaze one last time towards his two nieces. " Sieg, whatever you have planned; if either of my nieces get hurt because of it, I will kill you."

As morning passed on to noon; both teams had found themselves back inside team RWBYs' room huddled around the video monitor. Both teams looked on as Ruby fumbled with the drive as she was putting it in. Finally; it went in and the screen shot alive with color.

Upon the screen appeared a man that they all had gotten to know very well over the past few weeks. Yet this man looked younger with his black hair appearing less unruly. He was a younger looking Sieg; one who didn't show the wear of time on his face. He slowly let out a breathe before speaking. " Hello, if you are watching this then I am very sorry. By watching this it means that the Jaegers have failed in our mission to exterminate the sin virus and that it has spread beyond hopes of containment."

All the students looked on in surprise as they saw the worry on his usual stoic face. " Located in this disk is all information that we have been able to obtain about the virus and all possible ways to eliminate it. Yet, I must warn you; there is no cure for the virus. If infected; your best bet is to fight it off until you are unable to. Then when the times comes; you must eradicate all signs of the virus within. So for that I am deeply sorry."

" Yet there is something my old training partner once said to me that keeps me going during these dark hours. Even during these dark hours; all we must do is look for the light within us to shine the way." Sieg let out a small chuckle after he spoke. " For the longest time I pondered those words for a way to describe them to another. The best way I found is that one must still have hope. Hope that their sacrifices will not be in vain. For a better tommorrow where our loved ones will no longer need to lift a blade or bear the burden of the badge."


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - Sins of the Past

" The first real knowledge that we have obtained comes from an old fairy tale of two powerful beings called Oberon and Titania. With the tale being about Oberon trying to take Titania's son born from the seed of another man; to raise as a knight under his banner. Titania refused and tried running away with the child. Oberon angered by her escape; had sent his most loyal knight Puck to trick her into returning the child." The image of Sieg paused for a second on the screen. " Puck was successful into having her return; yet Titania was angered from Oberons' treachery and again fled with the child."

" From there it was said that Oberon created monsters of pure darkness to hunt those that shared the blood of the child and sent them to slaughter the bloodline in total. Seeing the people she ruled over suffering unjustly; she returned again and this time relented to Oberons rule. To mark the child as his and make sure that Titania would never flee again; he placed a mark upon the child that would grow in strength the longer the child was away from him. From there is where most scholars have decided where the sin virus originated from."

The image flickered for a bit before a picture of an Ursa bear appeared on the screen. " They also believe that the monsters that were created in the story are meant to be the origination of the Grimm. Unfortunately nothing concrete had been proven at this time."

The image flickered again to a long list of names, locations, and dates scrolling down the screen. " Enclosed on this disk has been all known cases of the sin virus and every known attempt of the councils of Remnant in extermination it. Also included is the more virulent strain called the seven deadly sins; which in turn causes the host into becoming a Sin Lord."

" Besides being a carrier of the virus; they also gain multiple inhuman abilities thanks to the virus. One that I could like to take very special note of is their inhuman healing capability. During my time of fighting them; I have personally cut in half, decapitated, disembowled, and even blown apart sin lords in an attempt to kill them. Ye there have only been two ways that have proven effective in killing them; which are total and complete cellular destruction or the use of a cold forged steel blade." The screen turned to a picture of a massive explosion causing an even bigger crater. " The requirements of complete cellular destruction has so far been the only real means in killing them due to the lack of knowledge in forging cold forged steel. Yet I must warn that you must avoid civilian casualties at all cost. Mostly due to the Sin Lords having a power to call Grimm towards them."

" I hope that this information serves you well. For you are now the last hope for humanity." The screen flickered off for a second before reappearing with a file folder filled with multiple typed and video files. One title stood out from the rest of them. It was titled the Stillwater Massacre.

Without even realising it; Rubys' finger was hovering over the file in an eager desire to see what was inside. The others could only look on with delight as they nodded their approval.

As Ruby pressed down on the file icon; the screen changed to a new video of Sieg in a more disheveled appearance. " Stillwater Massacre... where to begin? Well let me start from the beginning. The massacre was caused by a less than noble team of huntsmen and huntress' under their leader Calypso. They were nothing more than an amoral assassination squad that only escaped justice due to the fact that the councils needed a scape goat if said attempts failed. Thus the councils will would be done and the brainless populace would be none the wiser"

Sieg let out a soft sigh before continuing. " Stillwater marked the third confrontation that I had with them and second time post infection. I had hoped that Stillwater had marked the end of their lives along with their threat."

" All three members of the team; Calypso, Vali, and Nekros are infected with the seven deadly sin varient of the sin virus plague and as far as I can tell are the longest such infected to date. Their fourth member Oni had escaped infection and after Stillwater surrendered to law enforcement." Sieg turned away for a second before looking dead on at the camera. " Yet if you're looking at this then one or all of them somehow managed to survive the fight. I pray for your safety because if they have survived then I have no clue on how you are to stop them."

Without warning; a video broadcast began playing on the screen...

" Sir, tectonic readouts report massive vibrations emminating from ground level. We're talking between seven and eights here on the RS meter." The image of massive underground eruptions shattered dirt and stone and sent pieces as big as ten feet in diameter rocketing in to the air.

" Any word from any of the ground teams that are still in the mining site?"

" Sir, the surviving members of team RIFT are currently trying to unbury the mineshaft that during the last report held survivors of the village." As the man spoke; the ground began to show literal slashes and craters forming not from quakes but from what appeared to be the works of a weapon. Following the new deformations were waves of ice geysers that shot from every direction.

" Private, do you have a visual on any of the combatants down there?" The mans words started getting more and more worried as the battle continued to devolve into utter destruction.

" Negative sir. There is too mch interference." Just as the private spoke; a massive underground blast rocked the mine. The blast was so strong that it even caused a massive blast of air to rise up into the sky. " Shit! Sir we got incoming."

" All stations brace for impact. I repeat, brace for impac..." His words became drowned out by the sounds of consoles blowing and circuits frying as the image on the screen became garbled.

The image finally cleared to show most of the surface rock gone and even much of the buried dust deposit blow up. Yet the real amazing thing was that in the center of all that destruction stood four people; three of them fighting the fourth. The camera could barely keep up with the fourth as the person seemed to disappear only to reappear a few steps away. " Si... sir we got visual; enhancing..."

The image began to expand and focus as it got a closer look at the combatants. " Do we have visual confirmation of the combatants?"

The privates voice started to stutter for the longest time before he took a deep breath. " Um, confirmered. The rogue huntsman Sieg and the three that were in charge of the slaughter; team COVN."

Before the captain could respond; the image caught Sieg pointing his weapon in its rifle form at a discolored part of rock that was jutting out of the ground. " All stations brace for impact."

The image turned bright white as a massive explosion filled the mine. " Sir, we've lost power to our secondary engines. Trying to reroute."

" Any word from the ground team?"

" Sir, they have cleared the wreckage and leading the survivors to the rendevous area. Orders sir?"

" Order all ships to break off and clear the area. Get us to the rendevous and fast." The image stayed on Sieg as long as possible before the distance became too great and the image was lost.

Sieg was tired. This fight seemed to not want to end and nothing he could do was able to stop Calypso. No matter how badly he cut, sliced, stabbed, blew up, or dismembered her and her ilk; they just kept on regenerating. All the while he was slowly getting weaker and slower. At this rate he knew he was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

His eyes turned towards Calypso to see they sickening grin on her face. She was enjoying this fight too much for his liking. Even with her body being blown to bits so many times and barely wearing a stich of clothing; she still was so willing to fight. " What's wrong little boy? Don't tell me that you've ran out of steam already?"

Sieg could only growl as he cut down both Nekros and Vali; he eventually gave up caring about how many times he had given them killing blows just to watch them rise again.

" Oh sweet sweet Sieg, I see the look in your eyes. Behind all the bravado and anger I can tell; you miss your big sister." Calypso grinned at him even more wickedly. " But don't worry sweet boy. You'll be joining her soon in death; and by the same blade too."

" YOU BITCH!" Sieg unleashed his full wrath upon Calypso; cutting her limp by limp and slicing her in half horizontally.

" Oh poor baby... You know that we'll just regenerate no matter how much you cut us." Even as a mutilated body; Calypso refused to shut up.

Sieg looked around at the barren wasteland that their battle had caused; till he saw something poking out of the ground. He instantly recognized it as the end of a vein of dust crystals. He grabbed her by her hair and drug her over to the vein and then immediately turned and cut down the two other monsters before they could stop him. " Yeah. I figured that you could take anything that I could give you... Lets see if you can take the full force of a massive dust explosion."

Sieg lifted his blade up high before slamming it down hard into the ground; embedding the blade inside the vein. He let out a feral yell as his blades runes glowed bright white. The three infected members of COVN could only look on in horror as he turned the blade; then everything went white...

" Post Stillwater incident; Day thirty six." The screen changed to a young woman that they never had seen before in what looked like a very sterile room. She had coal black hair cropped short with two long bangs framing her face." Sieg still lies withing a coma with multiple internal injuries after the explosion. There has still been no sign of the three infected COVN members since the explosion either."

The woman turned away from the camera and sighed for a bit before turning back. " Logic would dictate that all three were completely vaporized in the explosion. I would like to give that as my theory due to the simple fact that Sieg was one of the fastest huntsmen alive. Even with his inhuman speed; he almost died in the resulting blast."

The woman tapped something on the console of her desk to bring up a video onto the screen. " This is what remains of both Stillwater Village and Stillwater Mine. I would like to point out the massive hole in the ground that used to be both places. Early figures point out that the quake could easily be felt as far away as Mistral and Vacuo. The explosion itself has even reshaped the landscape to the point that in a few years this place will be more a lake than any settlement."

The video was taken off the screen and the womans face reappeared with a more sullen look. " Another unfortunate side effect of this incident also is worth noting; the councils have decided that they no longer care about capturing Sieg. As of four thirty seven Atlas standard time; Sieg and anyone who follows him are now wanted criminals with kill on sight orders."

" You just like making life hard on us don't ya Kuro?" The recording ended.

Both groups looked dumbfounded as the recordings finally ended. Everyone was shocked and appalled at what they just witnessed that they all just sat in silence for the longest time. A part of them were shocked by the utter devestation that the four combatants caused while the other part of them were sickened by the councils response.

Sieg was trying to do the right thing by eliminating COVN and the sin virus; yet the council would rather post him as a criminal rather than cause a panic to the populace by telling about this slow brewing epidemic. Eventually however; they knew that when the virus did become public knowledge that there would be panic.

" Is it just me or does this seem like the Jaegers were thrown under the bus?" Jaune wasn't known to be so blunt in his opinions so when he spoke; he caused many surprised looks. " No seriously. Stillwater was nothing more than him cleaning up after the council; yet in the end he gets all the blame."

" There's probably more to the story than that Jaune." Pyrrha gave him a soft apologetic look before turning back to the monitor. " Besides, if the council let people know about the virus then fear and paranoia would spread."

Blake sighed as she realized Pyrrhas' point. " And that fear would attract the Grimm."

" The sad part is that even if there isn't a true outbreak in a city; just rumors of one getting out would be devastating." Pyrrha sulked a bit as she let her words slip out.

" And the Grimm would flock together like moths to a flame." Jaune felt appalled inside as he didn't want to side with the council on their arguement to keep the virus a secret.

" The burden of the badge is a heavy one indeed." Ren turned towards everyone to gauge their reaction. " So for the most part; we agree with their decision to keep the virus a secret. Yet I for one do not agree with their decision to make Sieg a pariah."

" Me neither..." Nora; not to be outdone; moved right next to Ren with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out.

" But it feels wrong that they must suffer and be hunted like that just because their willing to put themselves in harms way like that." Ruby fidgeted with her fingers as she thought about how bad of a perdicament that her uncle was in.

" Haven't you guys thought for one second that they got what they deserved." With those words; the conversation stopped dead and everyone turned to look at the ice queen Weiss. " Now think about this for a second; the council worked hard to keep the virus a secret due to fears of causing unneeded panic among the populace. Yet here comes these 'Jaegers' who go showboating and causing a ruckus in their hunt to eliminate the virus. Heck, I bet given the chance that they would spread the word about it to everyone and anyone just to hurt the council."

" Your making it sound like ignorance is truely bliss. But that's a lie. Once word gets out; I'm not talking if, I'm talking when words gets out; the reaction would be much worse." Pyrrha turned to Weiss and gave her that glare of hers; that she was ready to accept Weiss' challenge of words.

" When it finally does happen; I bet the council already had a plan ready to be set in motion to contain the threat." Weiss crossed her arms over her chest to show that she was willing to debate the topic to death. " Besides, name one thing that the council did in their consealing of knowledge of the sin virus."

" They killed Summer..."


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 - The Unquiet Truth

Grimm; for all intents and purposes; they are amoral beasts who use their ability to detect negative emotions in order to track their prey. Their prey of choice is preferably homo sapien superior and homo feral superior; better known as humans and faunus respectively. Their whole existance is the whole sale slaughter and consumption of both species and their never ending hunt to fill that desire. Yet, the reports that now lay bare in front of Sieg had him a bit concerned.

Over the past couple of months; the Jaegers noticed a slowly increasing drop of Grimm incidents out in the less secure areas of Remnant and an overall drop in Grimm sightings in general. To most of the civilized world; it just meant that the huntsmen and huntresses were doing such a good job eradicating the Grimm that eventually the monsters would be nothing more than an after thought. Yet Sieg wasn't what you would call civilized. He had dedicated his life to eradicating the monsters of the world and even he knew that the Grimm menace could not be quelled so quickly nor so easily. Every huntsmen and huntress could kill a hundred Grimm a day for the rest of their lives and that would barely even make a dent in the population that still lurked out there.

A part of him was glad that he had given up having an easy life as just another run of the mill huntsmen. He had seen over the years how each new generation of huntsmen and huntresses had become more lax in their duties. Most rarely trained and spent most of their time using their fame to astonish crowds or pick up chicks.

The only ones that didn't get soft were the Atlas huntsmen; which was mostly due to them being conscripted into the Atlas military. The down side to that however was that they lost their battle sense and instead relied extensively on military tactics.

Sieg slowly started doing the math in his head. If all the Grimm decided to do an all out massive siege on all the major cities at the same time; even if every available huntsman and huntress fought; the Grimm would still have a eighty seven percent win probability.

This wasn't the first time that Sieg had thought of such an unlikely scenario; yet it kept on popping back into his mind more and more these past few days. Something out there was causing the Grimm to become either more intelligent or hidden from view in order to hide their numbers.

A slow chill worked its way up Siegs' spine as he let such a fact sink in. The world was not ready for something like that; yet nothing he could do would ever change human nature. The false sense of security that the masses held made him sick to his stomach. One day soon their going to find out how fragile their safety really is.

He finally pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he focused on the latest Grimm sightings from his team. Almost a thousand red dots appeared on the map of Remnant showing where the Grimm had been sited by his Jaegers. With a couple more key presses a mass of blue dots appeared; representing all the reported kills and confrontations between regular huntsmen, civilians, and Atlast military against the Grimm. Deep in his gut there was a feeling of an uneasy uniformity to all the movements of the Grimm; yet he just couldn't place it.

His attention however was drawn to the opening of a door behind him and the sound of footsteps drawing closer. Sieg didn't turn to investigate who it was due to the fact that only a few people knew of the location of this bunker; and even fewer would dare try and travel here. Eventually the face reflected off the display console to show a handsome young man wearing a black fedora. " You know boss man; sitting in a darkened room staring at a monitor isn't good for your eyes."

" Neither is commenting on my personal quirks. People usually end up being stabbed; constantly." Sieg grinned as he turned to Apollo to give him his undivided attention. " So what brings you here?"

" Besides trying to make you less of a hermit?" Apollo shot back his own grin before continuing. " Got some comms from a couple of field agents. Their food stock is running low and are inquiring on when their going to be called off their scouting mission; or at most be relieved to resupply."

" Not until we figure out what is causing the Grimm to act so strange." Sieg turned back towards the monitor and ran his fingers across the keyboard; bringing up the past weeks reports. " See, there has been multiple opportunities for Grimm to attack human settlements yet have actually gone out of their way to avoid them. Most of the latest incidents have actually been due to people running into Grimm out in the wilds."

Apollo focused his eyes on all the new dots that had appeared on the screen. " So the entire population of Grimm are doing something completely organized over the entire world without any form of communication?"

" If what I am percieving is true; then yes." Sieg tried to sound convincing; yet even he had lingering doubts as to even if there was a possibility of Grimm having the ability to come up with such an intricate plan.

Apollo slid two fingers across the brim of his hat as he continued to focus on the map. " I just hope that we figure this out soon. Most of our guys think that their just running in circles..."

_When will you stop running in circles?_

Sieg froze as he heard the voice; her voice inside his head. It had been a long time since he last thought of her...

He hated them all; the Grimm, the huntsmen, and the council. He left his old life behind the day Summer died in order to kill the Grimm and more importantly the Sin Lords that had killed her. Yet the council would rather send former comrades after him in order to keep their precious secret safe. So now he had the blood of innocent huntsmen and huntresses on his hands; and that shit would never come off.

The great irony however; was that now others had chosen to follow his lead and joined him in his cause. Now he was the impromtu leader of a small army of huntsmen and huntresses who think that he's some kind of prophet that was born to lead them to some kind of ultimate destiny.

Sieg looked towards his sword and noticed the ever increasing amount of damage appearing on his blade. Balmung was meant to be his partner and unwavering companion in even the darkest of times; yet now looked worse off for ware than many of his followers. He didn't know how more senseless battles his blade had; well he could say the same thing about everyone at the moment. There was just so many people who were just holding on by a thread; using every bit of their will to continue the fight.

His thoughts lingered on for the longest time before the soft touch of a females hand upon his bare shoulder got his attention. He turned his head to see who it was as his eyes gazed upon a woman that over the past few weeks had been closer to him than any other person has.

Her name was Gaile; younger sister to a good friend of his Ozpin. She had came to him to pass along information that Oz had gotten about the councils latest plans to exterminate him and the Jaegers. Yet she stayed after delivering the information to him; for reasons he still didn't understand.

To most people she looked pretty average; long dark brown hair with a light skin complexion. She wore an simple outfit of powder blue and white with ruby red boots and weilded a broom as a weapon. Most people thought that she was pretty odd; yet there was no denying that she was passionate in all respects. After hearing what had happened with his sister; she willfully pledged herself to the Jaegers cause without a second thought. " What's wrong Kuro?"

" Please, don't call me that." Sieg turned his gaze away from her as the feelings that he held with that name washed over him. He would rather have the part of him that was Kuro buried under the weight of time and forgetfulness. " I'm not that man any more."

Gaile moved forward and locked eyes with him again. " Well what do you want me to call you if not Kuro? And don't say Sieg; that name just sounds so dumb."

He could only chuckle at the girls brazenness. She really did know how to push his buttons. " What did you need?"

" Well I was looking outside at the nice sunny day with just a nice breeze blowing; and I thought to myself that today would be a good day to have a picnic." Her emerald green eyes pierced his own eyes as she let out a playful grin.

" Then why don't you go have a picnic then? No one would stop you." Sieg let his body go loose in his chair as he had a sinking feeling that the conversation would go longer than he expected.

" You know why silly. It's no fun having a picnic by ones' self." Her grin grew wider as she tried to make her intentions known to him; yet all Sieg could think about was the amount of reports that he still had to go through.

" Well, I think Odin and Susanoo are back from their patrols. Maybe they would be up for a picnic." Sieg tried to play off her comment; yet his words caused her eyes to harden upon him as she grimmaced

" They are but I want to have a picnic with you..." Their eyes locked together again as he could tell that her offer was more than what it seemed.

Sieg tried to advert his gaze back to his reports as to show that he really was too busy. " Sorry but this is important. I got to decipher what I can from these reports in order to keep us all safe from the council."

" What you're doing is running yourself ragged. You don't sleep, hardly eat, and could use a much needed break. All you have managed to do is lead the loyalists on a game of chase." Gaile knelt down and placed her hands upon his hands and squeezed both softly." When will you stop running in circles? Because at this rate; your war will never end. If you are going to at least run around like that; then make sure that the thing your running around is important to your enemy. That way your opponent would make a mistake when they realize that your going after something important to them."

Siegs eyes shot wide as he thought about her words from so long ago. Without even realizing what he was doing; his fingers flew across the keyboard; sending search queries running at a breakneck pace. Apollo could only look on in amazement as the monitor began filling up with more and more sightings and incidents till finally it seemed that the map was awash in colors. He turned towards Sieg; awaiting an answer to his leaders action.

" Ok, these are all the sightings and confrontations between huntsmen, jaegers, and Grimm for the past three months." Sieg turned towards Apollo to give him a better view of the screen before continuing. " At first, there looked like there was nothing out of the ordinary save for a few odd sightings here and there. Then about a month ago; boom; Grimm sightings drop like a stone."

Sieg waited a bit for Apollo to catch up to his way of thought before continuing. " Yet, there was nothing to explain the sudden decrease; until..."

Sieg entered in another command; this time increasing the size of the bigger clusters and adding connection lines in between them. As Apollo looked on as the monitor continued its work; his heart sank in pure horror of realization of the truth. " Do you want me to call in anyone?"

Sieg turned to face Apollo with the same fear of realization on his face. " Call everyone."

" They killed Summer..."

An all too familiar voice echoed through the room and caught everyone off guard; sending their heads turning towards the door. At the doorway stoop a dark haired man with an hand running through his unruly hair. Everyone immediately recognized him as Rubys' and Yangs' uncle; Qrow.

" Oh, hi uncle. What brings you by on this nice warm day?" Ruby walked towards her uncle and tried to give him a hug but was stopped when he placed a hand on her head. His eyes criss crossed between everyone that was present in the room in order to determine who all was present.

Qrows' attention went back towards Ruby; who how had his arm in a death grip between her arms and chest. With little effort he was able to lift her up into the air till her feet couldn't even touch the ground. " Ruby now is not the time to be playing games. First off; I told you once before that you need to be more careful in your investigations. Second off..."

Everyone looked at him as he paused for a moment. Qrow turned his gaze away from then in disgust at the thought that went through his head. " Second off; I have been asked by the council to take both of you home."

The room erupted with sounds of protest from all the students with Yang and Nora being the most boisterous of the lot. Yang herself; seemed that she was even ready to clock her own uncle for even stating such a blasphemy. Yet it was Ruby who was able to cut through all the noise. " Why? Why are we being expelled?"

" The council is worried that having you two here will only encourage other students into following in Siegs' footsteps." Qrows' became engulfed with disgust with himself as he had to shatter his nieces' hopes and dreams. " The last draw was the fight at Juniors'."

" But that's not fair." Yang broke free from the rest of their friends. " The council is only doing this because their too chicken shit to even warn huntsmen about the Sin Virus. If they really cared about protecting humanity; then they should at least let those people who are sworn to defend it; know what's really going on."

Qrow looked down at his niece; Yang; and sighed. " And that is why the council is so worried. Sieg had the same mentality as you do right now."

Weiss walked over and sat on her bed as she watched everyone else getting more and more infuriated with Qrow and the council. " Why are you guys getting so upset about this? We already had this whole conversation about the council and their desire to not spread fear and worry to the populace."

Blake turned to face her with a disgusted look in her eyes. " This goes beyond just keeping a secret; their purposely removing undesirables just because they might cause a problem."

" Hey, neither of us had any say in their decision to wreck a bar in Vale." Weiss crossed her arms in rebuke. " They made their bed and now their going to have to sleep in it."

" You don't get it. This goes way beyond a simple bar fight. The council is purposely removing them because of who they are related to. Who's to say that it ends there? For all we know; the council may kick out all the faunus students next." Blakes voice grew louder; louder than anyone who knows her would expect her voice to raise. Blake; out of everyone there; was always the most opinionated when it came to discrimination and this one matter really got under her skin.

" Oh here we go again. Any time something happens that you don't like; you play the race card." Weiss' words got her many shocked and disgusted looks. " What? It's true. Race has nothing to do with what is happening to Ruby and Yang."

Pyrrha got right in front of Weiss and stared the ice queen down. " No it is not about race; it goes deeper. They are being discriminated due to who their related to. They are guilty until proven innocent."

Jaune looked towards Weiss and Pyrrha and prayed that their war of words didn't escalate into something far worse. He then turned back towards Qrow trying to handle both of his infuriated nieces. " I have a question; is there anything Professor Ozpin could do to stop the council?"

Qrow turned towards the young huntsman and recognized him as the last one that was left standing against Sieg and his team when they attacked. Even though he doubted the young mans skill and potential; Ozpin had told him that Jaune could be the perverbial diamond in the rough. Qrow now understood that this boy had an unquantified amount of loyalty to his friends. " I wish there was. Right now Oz is on the chopping block himself. The whole teaching staff is walking the razors edge at the moment."

" So they plan on gutting the staff at Beacon; then what?" Jaune got worried as he waited for the answer.

Qrow pulled out a flask and gulped down a bit of liquid before closing the flask back up. " Whispers have it that Tyr would take over and implement his own beliefs."

Everyone looked on in shocking realization with Nora in particular looking upon the fact of reliving her horrendous time with him. That time of her life was a nightmare that she wanted to stay gone and buried forever. If Tyr was to take over the school then the best course of action for her was to leave as soon as possible.

Jaune looked closely at Qrows' face and then over to Noras' and Rens'. Recognizing the fear and horror on their faces; he knew that studies under Tyr would be quite aweful. " So In otherwords; it would probably be better transfering somewhere else then."

Qrow just scoffed at the comment; which made everyone realize that things were worse than what it seemed. " You're making it sound like the trouble is only at Beacon; its' not. Almost all the other major schools; save for Atlas; are slowly being caved into pressure into following the councils decisions. As it stands, all the schools are going to be making huntsmen and huntresses that are more shock troops than adventurers."

" Wait! What does that mean?" Pyrrha was the first one to ask the question that everyone else was too afraid to ask.

" They're going to change the schools so that the students become loyal and expendable killing machines for the council; with no free will of their own." Qrow had stopped trying to hide his disgust of it all; now. It was days like this that he wished he would of joined the Jaegers instead of staying loyal; if only to not have to deal with the idiocies of the council. " Hell they have had no problems sending Summer and multiple huntsmend and huntresses to their deaths already thanks to the Sin Virus."

Everyone was shocked as they realized that their conversation glossed over the bigger elephant in the room. Pyrrha again was forced to take the lead; this time due to the fact that everyone had become too nervous to ask. " So what happened that caused her death?"

Qrow looked down at his two nieces and saw the pain in their eyes; especially Ruby. He let out a sigh before strengthening himself for a story that he hated telling. " Back when the girls were still young; Summer was still working part time as a huntress. Even though Taiyang was making good credits as a teacher and I was helping out with some credits here and there from my commissions; she still liked going out and killing Grimm. She would say that it wasn't just our job to bring home the money but also hers. Personally, I just think she missed the thrill of the hunt."

Qrow shot a glance around and noticed that everyone calmed down and was more focused on what he had to say than personal vendettas. " So it came as no surprise that when a high priced, short term job came up on the board; she was right on it. Unfortunately, that job was her last."

The room became unconfortably quiet as what Qrow was saying was sinking in. " The job itself got about twelve different hunters going out to purge a small town of a massive Grimm infestation before the Grimm would strike again. Unfortunately, the job was a bold face lie. They were sent out to the town in order to eliminate the infected virus carriers there. Yet someone forgot to mention that there was a sin lord there too."

" From all accounts; the one that was there was Calypso. She somehow tricked them into believing that she was still a huntress in good standing and led them into an ambush. One of the huntsmen was able to send out a distress call; which the council ignored. They were sent there to die in hopes of killing Calypso before she could infect anyone else." Qrow shot a quick glance towards Ruby and Yang to gauge their reactions before continuing. On their faces was a look of pure revoltion and rage. " Somehow Sieg found out about the distress call and left to help after finding out that the council purposely ignored it. I don't know much of what happened there. But it took another dozen huntsmen to bring him back. In his arms; he held the body of his sister."

" That was the last time Sieg, Taiyang, and myself were in the same place together. Tai was all ready to choke him to death for the death of his wife. If it wasn't for me and Oz; he might have. From there; you kids can pretty much fill in the rest.

Ruby was in tears with Blake over her; consoling the younger girl. Everyone else was quite shocked and horrofied by Qrows confession that they didn't even know what to say. Even the ice queen Weiss was rocked by such a confession. Qrow could only look away from all of them. The thought of reliving that experience of when Summer died was too much for him. " I am sorry girls... but this is your last day at Beacon."

Qrow turned away and out the door without another word; leaving everyone to their thoughts...


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - The Last Beacon

There was an overcast sky with a cold northern wind blowing across the academy ground; with a forecast of showers expected later that night. Yet for two girls of Beacon Academy; they would never get to see it. For this was the last day that Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long would set foot upon the school grounds. As of earlier that morning; they were unceremoniously expelled from the school due to their recent actions. Even with a massive outcry by many of the students'; there was no dissueding the council from their decision. So now the two girls walked the corridors one last time on their way to the awaiting airship; with their uncle Qrow in tow.

As they reached the open grounds; they saw multiple classmates gathered there to say their goodbyes to the two girls that were a massive part of making Beacon so enjoyable the past few years. Out in front was the two team members that they had to leave behind; Weiss trying to hide her emotions behind her cold facade while Blake was fighting back tears. Behind them were the members of JNPR and CFVY; both of which spent some time enjoying the hijinks that the two girls dragged them into. After both of those teams; were at least two dozen students who were also sad to see them go. There was barely a dry eye present as everyone got to say their goodbyes in turn.

Finally, it was time for the two girls and their uncle to board the airship and head home. Both girls turned back one last time to see the place that the loved one last time. Yet as they turned to board the ship; the sound of everyone's scrolls got their attention. Everyone's attention turned to the their scrolls as hoping for a last minute decision from the council; yet what awaited them was two words; _Their Coming..._

Off; in the city of Vale; the perimeter alarms started blaring. The alarms always meant one thing; a horde of Grimm had been spotted near the city walls. Usually that meant that one or two teams would have to be dispatched to handle the horde before damage could be substained to the wall; yet did not explain the cryptic message on their scrolls.

As everyone paused to ponder what it all meant; a second alarm sounded. This one was of a higher pitch and didn't last as long during its rotation. None of the students recognized as to what the second alarm meant; but Qrow did. Qrow turned from looking down at Vale in the distance to facing the massive tower of beacon; or more precisely up at Ozpins' office. The day that they had been dreading had finally come and they were sorely unprepared for it.

Off on the other side of Beacon; on board the flagship of the Atlas military expedition army; officers and soldiers alike were a buzz with motion. They had also received the message and detected the large Grimm hordes approach. Now they were in a rush to prepare the ship for flight to meet the enemy head on.

In the middle of all the chaos stood General Ironwood with the huntsman Tyr and Winter Schnee by his sides. He scanned the ever updating data on the Grimms numbers and composition and incrementally became more and more concerned as the bigger picture began to unfold. What was originally thought was just a small horde had slowly began to surface that it was nothing more than the tip of the spear.

" All hands prepare for enemy engagement as soon as we're airborn." Ironwood tried to sound stoic to his crew in order to keep moral high; yet deep down in his gut he had a very bad feeling about all of this.

Just as he was steeling himself for what was to come; the communications officer shot up from her spot and turned towards Ironwood with an expression of uncontrollable fear on her face. " Sir... Atlas has just fallen under attack by a massive wave of Grimm... Unknown casualties at this time sir..."

" Send a message to all available ships and huntsmen anywhere near Atlas to make utmost haste to her defense." Now he was worried. Atlas was the pinnacle of defense and lethality; so for it to be suffering heavily under an attack was never a good sign.

Unfortunately the officer didn't go back to her spot; she had stood still and Ironwood knew that he wasn't going to enjoy the reason. " Sir... Mistrel and Vacuo have also fallen under siege." She paused for a second to swallow hard at the news she alone was privy to at the current moment. " Reports are coming in of multiple wall breaches in Vacuo."

Her words stopped the bridge dead. What was once a never ending scene of hurried movement and a sense of urgency had turned into a morgue. Ironwood himself felt as if someone had dropped an anvil in his stomach as he took it all in. He was a soldier and had trained for almost every scenario possible; yet there was really nothing that could ever prepare him for handling something on this scope and scale. To him this was a doomsday scenario; more importantly one that he couldn't even predict.

Yet, despite his own fears and misgivings; he had a job to do. At this moment the worst thing he could do was nothing. Whatever decision he made; right or wrong; was better than no decision. " All hands; get this ship ready for combat. Also send word to every huntsmen and huntress; tell them to drop whatever the hell their doing and get to a cities defense."

" YES SIR!" All the officers shouted in kind as they went back to their work with a new sense of urgency. However Ironwood kept his eyes on the communications officer; for he knew that there wold be much more troubling news to come. Unfortunately he didn't have to wait long.

" Sir, we just lost communication with Atlas and Vacuo. Both CCT systems are down." The Cross Continental Transmit System was the life blood of the Atlas military. It had allowed them to control the battle from any position and was the corner stone to the Atlesian Military. To lose it now; and so early in the engagement; was not a good sign. The deeper meaning to it however though was that somehow the Grimm were able to show higher than average intelligence. The deeper that Ironwood thought on it; the more horrified that he became.

Not once has the Grimm amassed such numbers to attack a major city; let alone quardinate a four pronged attack on all four major cities at the same time. To make matters worse; they had known that by taking out communications; they could cripple humanities chance for a unified defence. It finally dawned on him as to whom was responsible; yet he prayed that he was wrong.

" Still send word to who you can. Everyone else prepare for combat." Ironwood stole a glance towards Tyr to see the older man still as stoic and unflinching as ever. Ironwood just hoped that he would stay that way once they were engaged.

Another officer piped up over the noise. " Sir, gunships have engaged the enemy..."

Qrow looked on towards the departing airships with a worried expression on his face. Something was increasingly off about all of this; yet he didn't know what. It was only at the appearance of the majority of the teaching staff marching towards their airship that he knew that the shit had hit the fan.

Glynda was out in front of the rest of the teachers and walked uneasily for a woman that always carried herself with so much grace. She stopped right in front of the mass of students that had assembled to see off Yang and Ruby. " Attention students; there is currently an emergency taking place in Vale. Despite my personal protest; Ozpin has decided that any student that wanted to help in the defense of Vale was more than welcome to accompany us."

Glynda turned to gaze upon everyones faces to gauge their reaction before stopping dead at Yang and Ruby. " That also goes for you two as well."

" What? First the council decides that they don't want the girls here yet now they do? I don't buy it." Qrow didn't even bother to hide his disgust for the council or their decisions.

" The council... is currently unavailavle. This order is coming from Ozpin himself." Glynda looked worried; Qrow didn't like it when she looked worried. " Please Qrow; we need every warm body we can get."

Unfortunately; her point only came across fully when the sound of an explosion ripped through the air. All eyes present on the landing field shot skyward to see Ironwoods' airship on fire while being swarmed by the massive Nevermore and the smaller but much more numerous Imps and Griffons. Many of the females present let out audible gasps as they saw the ship list to one side and slowly lose altitude. The gasps turned to screams of horror as everyone saw another engine explode; this time mortally crippling the ship. It no longer was able support itself into the air and was now in free fall mode; right towards the Vale wall. Glynda could only cry silently to herself as she saw the impact. " Ironwood... no..."

Ironwood lifted himself up from off the deck floor slowly; trying to regain the strength in his wobbly legs. All around; he noticed the destruction and chaos that had engulfed his bridge. There was small electrical fires shooting up clouds of thick noxious smoke into the air. He focused his eyes to see who was still alive and conscious to be able to fix this cluster fuck. His eyes quickly focused on the woman that stood over the slumped body of his communications officer. He finally recognized the person as Winter; and the look on her face wasn't quite so refreshing. " Comms?"

" She's dead; General." Winter turned to him; showing her fear and concern.

" Dammit." Ironwood knew that he was going to loose good people today; but it slowly began to sink in that he might be losing everyone today. " Winter, do we still have communications?"

Winter turned towards the barely working communications board to check to see what was still available to them. " Sir, we still have interior and speaker capabilities. Unfortunately the crash took out ship to ship and long range comms."

Ironwood swore that he felt his own heart sink into his stomach. They were dead in the water with Grimm possibly swarming over their hull with minimal comms and unknown numbers of able combatants. He didn't like what he saw and knew that this might even be his last fight.

He took a slow breathe before letting out even slower in order to steel his resolve. If this was his last fight; then he's going to make sure that he takes out as many of those bastards as he can before he goes. " Winter, send word to all gunners whos weapon still works to fire at will; hold nothing back. Send word to our ground troops to get to the gaps in the wall and form lines. We need to hold the Grimm off for as long as possible in order to give the civilians time to evacuate. Also deactivate the restrictors on the droids; about time for the world to see them cut loose."

" Roger sir." Winter began sending orders across the ship and to both of their surprises; they got a lot more responses then what they were expecting.

" Get ahold of damage control and tell them to vent this smoke. If we're going to fight; then we're going to need to breathe." Ironwood couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as he let the moment of levity come and pass.

Winter turned to him with a small grin on her usual icy expression. " Anything else sir?"

Ironwoods smile turned back to a more serious look as he stared at the available sensors; noting the massive numbers charging their position. " Yes Winter. You have been the best officer a general could ask for. Now this is the last order that I'll have the luxury to give you; so you must follow it without fail. Die well and make those bastards suffer..."

The view from their airship was like a scene out of a nightmare. On their starboard side they had a clear view of Ironwoods' downed airship and the gashed opening it left in Vales wall when it collided with it.

The only good news that could be seen from the sight of such destruction was the convergence of multiple Atlas and Vale gunships that had for the time being surpressed the Grimms advancement through sheer firepower.

As many of them looked on; they started to notice smoke plumes shooting across the ground in what looked like a low arc. That meant that there was still some Altesian Paladins still working down there. A third sign of hope came from the crippled airship itself as multiple gun turrents and missile launchers became active.

For the moment; it looked like they would be able to hold the wall with ease. Then; from out of the woods; the flood came. The ground became a sea of black that slowly pushed closer and closer into oncoming fire. Grimm after Grimm were falling in waves; yet they still charged recklessly forward.

From within their masses; multiple object shot towards humanities line with reckless abandon. The airship finally was able to pick up voices over all the static; shouting about Boarbatusks breaking through the line and cutting down the soldiers.

The news began to get even worse as many of the airships providing aerial support broke off their stationary positions in order to combat the reemergence of the Nevermore and Imps. With them was at least a hundred fresh Griffons. It wasn't long before the main body of Grimm hit the line and within an instant the last defense of the wall failed.

The airship that team RWBY and JNPR was in landed hard a few blocks away from the Grimm incursion; followed by other transport airships carrying more of the students and teaching staff. Qrow left the cockpit of the one he was flying and joined his nieces; mostly due to all the airships that were now touching down weren't armed for combat and were merely meant for transportation.

As they disembarked; everyone noticed that Ozpin was already handing out orders to each and every team as they assembled. " Qrow, I need you to get to airship and see if Ironwood is still alive in there."

" Oz, I think..." Ozpin glared towards Qrow with a sense of urgency in his eyes.

" We don't have time for this. I need to know if Ironwood is still alive. Right now he might be one of only two people who might be able to stop this threat." Ozpin turned to both team RWBY and JNPR as Qrow ran past them towards the downed airship. " Ruby, Jaune; take both your teams to the intersection of Congress and Buda. There's a shelter there that's under attack. Defend it to the last."

Both teams nodded their heads as they let Ozpins words sink in. 'To the last.'

The sounds of blade and beast echo through the bloody streets as huntsman and huntress fight not just for their own lives but the lives of every man, woman, and child of Vale. Many have already fallen to the overwhelming numbers of Grimm that now fill the streets at numbers almost unheard of in this modern time.

This scene is playing out again as two star crossed lovers find themselves cornered mere blocks from the closest shelter. Beowolves, Ursa, and Creeps surrounded them at least three deep and if it wasn't for the mans skilled use of a rapier; they would of already died. " Don't worry beloved; I won't let anything happen to you."

" Please, Dartagnan, leave me and save yourself" The woman gripped her leg tightly to put pressure on the scar that started below the knee and down to the ankle.

The huntsman called Dartagnan pierced an Ursa in the skull and then quickly slashed off a Creeps neck in one quick motion. " Constance, I will not leave you here to die by these monsters.

" But..."

In a move of pure skill; he skewered another Creep and flung its corpse at a charging Beowolf. As both fell into two more Beowolves he fired a blast of fire dust all all four of them. The fire was so hot that he didn't even need to spare a second glance at them as he knew that they were already dead.

Yet he knew that both of them were also quite dead. Even if he let the love of his life; he still would of died. The numbers were just too many for him to overcome. So if he was going to die; then he was going to protect Constance to his last breathe.

Eventually he began to lose count of how many he killed and how many still surrounded him. To make matters worse; he was getting tired. He had to keep up such a fast pace for such a long time and now his body was starting to fail him. The first crack in his defense came from a Beowolfs claw against his left arm. Then a Creeps lucky bite tore a chunk out of his left hip. Finally another Beowolf raked his back. Dartagnan turned his head one last time at the woman he loved; wanting to leave this physical coil with her in her his thoughts.

His heart was filled with warmth and all the good memories that he made and felt blessed at the life he lived. He had no regrets...

... And nothing... No finishing blow. No monsters growl. No deat

" Oye. Dartagnan; already calling it a night?" He recognized the voice almost instantly. His eyes burst open to see three men in long brimmed hats with white feathers. Each held a replica of the same rapier that he weilded; yet the one that was speaking to him was also weilding a small dagger in his left hand.

" Porthos... Athos, Aramis; am I glad to see you three." Dartagnan held onto his shoulder as Aramis ran towards him; placing his own hands upon Dartagnans' wounds. Aramis' hands glowed a warming green as Dartagnan could feel his wounds healing.

" Dear little brother please be more careful in the future. I can't be here to heal you all the time." Everyone could only grin at Aramis and his usual words of scolding.

" Don't be so hard on the boy, Aramis. He was doing the honorable thing and was defending the woman he loves." Behind Aramis, Athos appeared with Constance draped on his arm with tears in her eyes. " And I believe that there is someone who is most grateful that he took those wounds in the line of duty."

Without even waiting for a response Constance left Athos' side and ran towards Dartagnan. She wrapped him in a warm embrace that lifted all the mens spirits. Athos let them have their moment before clearing his throat to get their attention. " Not to spoil the occasion but we do have a mission to attend to..."

" My mission is to defend Constance and get her safely to the shelter. Beyond that; Vale could burn for all I care." Dartagnan shot his head towards Athos and stared the older man down.

Porthos stepped towards the entangled lovers with a grin on his face. " Well you're in luck little brother. Our mission takes us right there..."

" is it just me or does it feel like it's too quiet here?" Blake turned to face the rest of her teammates and team JNPR as they walked towards the shelter that they were supposed to defend.

It had been nearly two blocks since they last faced a Grimm threat and if it wasn't for all the different avian Grimm flying high over head; one would think that the danger had already passed. That didn't signal well for the survival of the shelter. The thought that the shelter had already been breached and fallen had already entrenched itself in the minds of both teams. They all just prayed that they were wrong.

Yet what waited for them was an even more eerie sight. The shelter entrance held no sign of attempted forced entry nor signs of any actual combat. Everything about what they saw just shouted 'WRONG' to them. Everyone gripped their weapons tighter as Jaune stepped forward towards the shelter door in an attempt to investigate...


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - In this cage called Life

With ruthless efficiently the four men downed each of their Grimm in turn. If it wasn't for Porthos' needless flair you would mistake the men for machines. Thus they fell the last of the Grimm that stood in their path of the shelter.

As they gathered together back in their protection of Constance; Athos turned towards Dartagnan. " Little brother, will you do us the honor?"

Dartagnan grinned gleefully as he heard Athos' words. Without fail he raised his rapier over his head and exclaimed. " All for one..."

" And one for all." The three other men crossed their rapiers with him as they finished their oath. The words were a symbol to them; of a bond that can't be broken, of a warning to their enemies, and hope to their friends. They would fight not as individuals but as a unit.

For Dartagnan it was something that he had waited his whole life to do. Usually it was Athos that lead their oath; due to him being the leader and more experienced huntsman. To be allowed to lead it was a great honor to the young man. " Thank you Athos."

" No thanks needed little brother. You have earned the honor this day." Athos patted the younger huntsman on the back as they finally reached the shelter entrance. " Now you must say goodbye to your beloved for the time being. Since the city isn't going to save itself."

The younger huntsman could only nod in disappointment as he turned towards Constance. " My dearest beloved..."

Before he could say another word; she pulled him close and kissed him passionately. " No words my love. Just come back to me."

Their eyes locked upon each other and neither wanted to break their embrace; which felt like it went on for an eternity; yet still felt so short. Finally, Athos and Constance seperated; with Athos going to open the shelter door for his love.

Yet all was not as it appeared to be; for when he opened the door, he felt something lunge towards him from inside. The movement was too quick and had caught the man off guard. All he could do was let out a deafening scream as he fell to the ground with the thing sinking its teeth right into his jugular.

Porthos was the first to react and lifted his hand cannon at the beings head. With callous precision; he fired the dust infused round point blank into its cranium; popping it like a pinata. The others felt as if they were going to be sick as bits and pieces of bone and brain matter splattered all over them.

Athos turned to Porthos with anger in his eyes. " What the hell did you do?"

Porthos paid no attention to Athos and instead turned to Aramis. " Aramis; Dartagnan needs you now."

Aramis was upon the stricken huntsman in seconds after Porthos' exclamation. His hands grew bright green over the young mans neck in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Behind him Constance sobbed uncontrollably with her eyes locked on her wounded lover.

Athos pulled on Porthos' tunic and dragged the man closer to him. There was an almost uncontrollable rage upon his face as his burning eyes caught Porthos'. " What the hell do you think you were doing? We DON'T kill people."

Porthos broke free of Athos' grip and straightened his tunic. " Tell that to Dartagnan."

He pointed at their wounded teammate; who was now fighting for his life as Aramis tried his best to save him. " I don't know what that man attacked him; but if I didn't do something quickly then Dartagnan would already be dead."

" This isn't over. Expect me to bring this before the council." Athos turned away from him in disgust.

Porthos didn't really care though. He hated the fact that Athos tried his best to be such a straight arrow. All it did was blind him to the fact that the council had been playing them all for fools for the longest time. If it wasn't for his own personal loyalty to Aramis and Dartagnan; Porthos might of went rogue and joined the Jaegers years ago.

Yet an audible gasp caught both of the arguing mens attention. Both of them turned to look as Constance was on her knees now hugging the body of Dartagnan as Aramis pushed back tears as he looked at the other two men. It was then that they realized that they lost their brother in arms.

Athos walked over towards Constance and lifted her away from their slain friend and partner. Porthos however could only look upon the man with disdain for trying to say that his attack wasn't unwarrented. Aramis walked towards each of them with streaks of tears coming down his eyes and a worried expression on his face. " Is there something wrong Aramis?"

" I should of been able to save him." His words caught the other two men off guard. Aramis had a unique semblance that allowed him to heal others wounds without assistance or tools. To hear him say that he should of been able to save Dartagnan rocked their confidence to the core.

" Don't blame yourself brother; you did all you could." Athos' words fell on deaf ears however.

" That's not the point. Something in his wound was actively resisting me." Now all of them were worried as they heard his words. " I don't even know how that is even possible."

Something behind Aramis caught Porthos' eye and before anyone else could react; he lifted his hand cannon again and fired to the right of Aramis' head. His actions caused an uproar as Athos knocked the gun from Porthos' hand and Aramis using every curse he knew at the man. " What the hell is wrong with you?"

" Athos; THAT!" He pointed to the figure that had stood behind Aramis just a second ago.

Everyone else screamed in horror as they noticed the still moving being that was currently sprawled out on its back. It was a much alive Dartagnan; who was now missing a massive chunk of his lower jaw.

Constance tried to break free from Athos' grip and run to her beloved yet Porthos blocked her way. " ATHOS HOLD HER BACK NOW!"

All three men turned towards their fourth team member; with only Porthos with his sword drawn and cannon back in hand. " But that's impossible; he died. How can he still move?"

Porthos did a quick check of their surroundings and became horrified when he realized that they had not spotted one Grimm since arriving here. " This is a trap."

The other two men could only look at Porthos with shocked expressions as they waited for him to explain. " There's no Grimm here even though there has been a lot of negative feelings and death. Kind of odd seeing that this entire city is a warzone. Also, Dartagnan is dead. No living being in the world could take a round that removes half their jaw and still want to fight."

" But..." Aramis didn't have a chance to respond as Dartagnan leapt towards him like a feral beast. It was only then that they started to notice inhuman growls coming from inside the shelter.

From within came a multitude of men, women, and children; each sporting a bite wound somewhere on their sickly bodies. Most were palish gray with black tendril markings spreading out across their bodies. Each tendril however; originated from their wound. It was only then that they realized that Dartagnans' neck wound was also sprouting the black markings. " By the maidens..."

Athos turned towards Constance and held her tight. " Constance, I need you to go to where the bulk of the huntsman force is located and tell them what had happened here."

" Too late for that brother. All four of us are already dead." Porthos turned towards Athos with a sullen look in his eyes. " The Grimm should be coming soon to join in on the massacre soon."

" What?" He couldn't believe that Porthos had already given up. Out of everyone; he was always one to flaunt the odds.

" If we stay here to fight; then the Grimm will overwhelm us as we fight these things. If we run; then the Grimm will impede us in order for these things to sink their teeth into us." Porthos gripped his weapons tigher. " We're surrounded and have no escape."

Aramis turned towards both of them with a worried expression on his face. " Then what do we do?"

" Die well." Porthos shifted his focus from the monsters in front of him for a second; towards Athos. " Brother, if you will; for the last time."

Athos could only nod as a response. " All for one..."

" And one for all."

She was a killer through and through; even though you would never guess by the way she walked. She stepped with elegant grace; swaying her hips from side to side as she stepped lightly on the hard cement. The tall; almost lanky woman had always been at peace when she was on a battlefield; as if she was born to live there entirely.

Yet as she walked down the main street of Vale; an image of a man stumbling out of an alley way farther down from where she stood; caught her eye. The man wore a bloodied tunic and weilded a broken rapier in his right hand while his left dangled helplessly; most likely due to dislocation and or broken bones. His skin was quite pale and it looked like he was suffering for massive blood loss. She marveled at the fact that he still managed to keep himself upright and somewhat coherent while suffering such grievous injuries.

" Oy, soldier, how goes the day?" She couldn't help relishing getting into character as she stepped ever closer to him.

The man looked up towards her with the gaze of a broken man. She could tell that this man had lost everything today and that no act of cruelty would shake him. Yet as she approached; he somehow found the resolve to force his broken body up straight. " You look like you could use a bath and a scone."

" Woman don't patronize me for there is time for none of it this day." She could tell that all his wounds were inflicted by the Grimm that stalked the streets; feasting on any poor soul who would dare be caught unaware. " I take it that from your attire and blade on your hip; that you're a huntress; and also called in to die in this massacre."

The woman looked down at her choice of cloths; which was a pair of black leather heeled boots, a tight pair of brown pants, a white frilly blouse with brown vest, a long brown coat, and her signature tricorn hat. She never realized that her outfit made her stand out so much as a huntress; it was almost silly when she started thinking about it it. Yet even as she enjoyed the pause of amusement; her personality shifted back to a more serious tone. " My dear man; I plan on living longer than just the day. I still have many many years ahead of me."

As if on cue; the echoes of inhuman growls filled the street. Both recognized the noises as the sound of Grimm who were on the scent of their prey. The man stared towards her with crippling fear in his eyes. " There is no time. You must make haste to Ozpin. He must be warned that the shelters are a trap. There is... something wrong with the humans there."

"Oh, there is? Then I'll make sure that he's warned at once." She turned her back on him and grinned wickedly. " Tell me; when he asks who found out about this; what name shall I say it was from?"

" My name is Athos and yours?" Athos let out a small smile as now he knew that now he could die in peace for the message will be sent.

The woman grinned wider as her hand gripped the hilt of her cutlass; ready to unsheathe it will deadly precision" You may call me Calypso..."

Jaunes could feel the door lurch backwards hard; swinging into the shelter with so much ferocity that it caught the boy off guard. As he tried to regain his composure; he saw from the corner of his eye an object charging towards him with a feral look in his eye. He was stunned in the moment like a deer in headlights. Yet he felt his shield rise on its own and he felt the object collided hard against it; knocking him on his rear. Unconciously, he knew that it was only thanks to Pyrrhas' use of her semblance that he was still alive.

Even before he could get back on his feet; he felt two hands grab his arms right under the pits and drag him backwards. As he was dragged; he passed Weiss who was activating her sigil before slamming her blade into the ground; causing a wave of ice to shoot into the shelter. He could tell that there were razor sharp shards now shooting out from the attack and piercing anything and anyone that they touched.

Finally he was able to stand on his own power with both Nora and Ren on either side of him. In front; he could tell that Ruby, Yang, and Blake were now firing their weapons at any poor soul that came from within that shelter.

It was then that he finally understond what almost happened to him as he saw a child of no more than five years of age charge them on all fours with multiple black lines across the childs face.

The sin virus was here in Vale; dear god help them all...

Shouts of fear and panic shook him from his daze however; as in front of him multiple infected humans were now pouring out of the shelter. He guessed that each shelter could easily hold about five hundred people and if this shelter was full; then they were going to be overran quickly. He needed to do something; he needed to act. " Pyrrha; Nora, daisy cutter now!"

Pyrrha turned towards Jaune with a shocked and appaulled look on her face while Nora changed her hammer into its grenade launcher form. " Jaune, you can't..."

Jaune turned towards her with a look of fear in his eyes. " We can't let them escape. If even one manages to escape; then the whole city could be lost."

" But their human being; we can't just slaughter them like Grimm..." Pyrrha was cut off when Jaune pulled her close by the top of her corset.

" Pyrrha, I don't want to do this; but this is war. Right now they are enemy combatants that plan on killing everyone in Vale unless we stop them here." Their eyes met for just the briefest of seconds. " After this is over; if you want to leave... then you can."

Noras' voice broke through the two lovers moment. " Um guys... Daisy Cutter?"

Pyrrha closed her eyes as a tear went down her cheek. " Ok... Jaune... for the last time."

They both turned towards Nora and nodded; signalling the start of the plan. Without even hesitating; Nora fired three quick rounds into the air. Each round burst open to reveal multiple spinning metal blades that Pyrrha took ahold of and send spinning into the charging mass of flesh and bone.

From her left she could hear Ren call out the arrival of a massive swarm of Beowulfs and Urzas'. Without even waiting for the order; she sent those same blades towards the beasts; cutting them into pieces. The two teams were able to hold their ground against the ever increasing waves of enemies; for the moment...

The Atlesian airship had seen many better days than this; or so Ironwood thought. She was his personal flagship for half a decade and had survived numerous encounters against the Grimm. Yet today was the last day that she would fly. He had gone over every report that his techs could send his way and each and every one pointed to one conclusion; she was dead in the water. Her turrets had eventually fallen to the Grimm horde and her missile banks had literally gone dry. She had nothing left to give and for that he was sorry.

More parts of the ship had gone comms dark; which meant that the Grimm had overran that section and slaughtered anyone there that could make a report. To make matters worse; the other reports that he was getting was even more disturbing...

Yet, before he could fall into true despair; he noticed a white figure hovering behind him. " Winter... I thought you would of gone to help the city by now."

The eldest Schnee still looked stoic throughout the entire engagement; believing that in mere moments Ironwood would give her and order that would immediately change the outcome to the battle; an order that Ironwood knew would never come. " I'm sorry sir; but I am still your bodyguard. Thus I am unable to see to the battle while you are in harms way."

Ironwood could only smile as he heard her somewhat empty excuse to stay. His only consolation was that at least he knew that she was a dedicated soldier; for what good that would do them now.

What caught his ear however was commotion coming from the corridor adjacent to the bridge. Ironwood could only guess that the Grimm had finally made it this far and that soon him and Winter would be meeting the same fate as the rest of the crew. The sounds of rounds being fired down the hallway meant that there was at least one more soldier needlessly sacrificing his life for Ironwoods sake. Finally the fighting died down as Ironwood noticed Winter posture at the door with her one good arm leveling the rapier parrallel to the ground. He already knew that the first Grimm was going to suffer a massive headache thanks to her.

Finally, the door blew inward towards Winter; who dodged effortlessly. But before she could even charge her target; it was on top of her. With a deftless ease; she was disarmed and open to attack by... Qrow?

Ironwood shot up from his chair as Qrow made his presence know to both of them. " And you wonder why I don't like your military. Their too trigger happy."

" Qrow! What are you doing here?" By this time Qrow had let Winter regain her posture and reclaim her blade. Qrow in turn took stock of the damage done to the bridge.

" Got a message from Oz. He said that you should have a strategy that could win us this fight." Qrow couldn't help but run a hand through his black hair in his best attempt at looking suave in front of Winter. " Scroll communication is pretty hit or miss at the moment."

Ironwood could only sink back in to his chair; sullen at the fact that Ozpin had pinned all their hopes on a strategy that Ironwood refused to perform. " Unfortunately you came all this way for nothing. I have no plan on ever enacting THAT protocol."

His words shocked both Qrow and Winter; each for different reasons. For Winter; it meant that all this time that Ironwood could of won this battle yet refused to. In all her years of knowing him; backing down from performing his duty was one thing he never did. For Qrow; that meant that Ironwood would let Vale fall and the death of his nieces. Both decisions he refused to live with. " So now you Atlas military dogs finally show your true colors. You would rather let Vale burn than lift your finger to protect it. How typical."

"You're out of line Qrow. If the general didn't enact whatever plan that him and Ozpin had wrote up then there is a good reason for it." If it wasn't for the fact that they would be in a war zone; then Winters' and Qrows' bickering would of been somewhat annoying. Yet right now; it felt as if both of their words were piercing his very soul. He hated feeling such weakness in front of others. He was meant to be the rock; the immovable anvil to Ozpins' hammer. Yet here he was faultering on his own doubt. It took all his resolve in order to finally shut them both up.

" THAT'S ENOUGH YOU TWO!" His voice echoed through the bridge and caught both of them off guard. " Winter, he has all right to be mad at me for not enacting the Genesis Protocols. We developed them for situations just like this."

" Genesis Protocols? I've never heard of those before..." Winters head turned back and forth between the two men. It slowly dawned on her that again these men had plans on top of plans that were way above her knowledge.

" That's because they were never meant to be used." Qrow opened up his flask for a quick swig before closing it back up and placing it in his pocket. " Their doomsday scenarios."

Ironwood finally left his chair for good before stepping right in front of both of them. " And the correct action under the scenario of a massive wall breach that can not be contained is to seal as much of the populace and the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses in to the emergency shelters. Then overload the reactors of a massive airship. Thus annihilating everything that was in the city and that what was entering through the breach."

His words cut Winter like a knife; now she knew why he refused to leave yet wanted her to. He had planned on sacrificing his life in order to enact the protocols. Yet he had stopped due to the fact that she refused to go. " Sir, I'm sorry. If I had known that you were waiting for me to evacuate to enact those procedures then I would of left sooner..."

" Winter... stop." Ironwood lowered his head. " Under the circumstances that we happen to find ourselves in at this juncture; I am in good faith unable to enact those protocols."

" And we're back to where we started then. You're letting Vales people die because your to afraid to." Qrows words cut him deeper than any blade or claw ever did.

" It's not that simple." Ironwood pulled out his scroll and activated a program that neither of the other two knew about. Upon it showed the inside of multiple shelters along with some shots from battles that had raged on their outside. Ironwood could tell that both wondered how he was able to get this video when no one else could. A part of him wished that he didn't have to explain. " After the attack led by Cinder; the councils of Remnant had decreed that these shelters be built as a save haven for the populace of each major city. Yet the higher up in the Atlas military thought it would also be a good idea to sneak in live feed cameras into each shelter in every city. They felt that during this uneasy peace between kingdoms that it was best to be prepared for everything."

Ironwood changed the image to only one shelter in particular and enhanced the image of the people in it. " Unfortunately they weren't the only ones who had plans for these shelters. As you can tell; each and every man, woman, and child in shelter 2X5Y is infected by the sin virus. This same situation is currently being replayed in over twenty percent of the Vale shelters. If I were to activate the protocols now; then yes Vale would be safe for the time being. That is until someone opens up an infected shelter."

The sinking realization finally caught up to Qrow and Winter as both realized that even if one of those shelters were opened after the blast; then any other survivor would end up as easy prety for the infected. " Each shelter can hold up to five hundred people. Thats five hundred monsters just waiting to be unleashed further down the line."

Winter gulped hard as she tried to compose herself. " Sir, what do we do?"

" Nothing. We just don't have the man power to confront both threats. We lost." Ironwood lowered his head in shame. He was never one to throw in the towel so to do so now was quite humbling.

" Don't give me that crap. There is something that we can do. Ozpin is depending on us." Qrow still stayed stubborn and refused to admit the facts that he saw before him. He didn't want to give up on Vale; or more importantly let his nieces die here.

By this time however; Ironwood had grown tired of the cocky and arrogant younger man and shot daggers towards him with his eyes. " Ok Qrow. If you're so willing to do something; then you choose. Do we destroy the city now and leave the infected shelters intact or do we do nothing and pray for a miracle?"

" The answer is simple; lock the infected doors permanently while leaving the uninfected one unlocked." Qrow looked so smug on his face when he rattled his plan off to Ironwood that it took a great effort for Ironwood to not slap the smirk off his face. " Knowing you Atlas military types; it shouldn't be that hard."

" I've already thought about that. I've done the numbers over and over again in my head and the cold hard fact is that we would need hours to even attempt something like that. That is to say that we're able to get some of these machines to work for more than a few seconds." Ironwood motioned to the forward viewport and the carnage that was outside. " I don't believe that Vale will even last that long. So now what?"

The two men stared each other down; both refusing to admit the other was right or even admit that they were wrong. If it wasn't for Winter then they would of stayed like that forever. " Sir, camera thirty two."

She brought up an enhanced version of it on his scroll so all three could get a better view of what was happening. On screen showed two groups of huntsmen and huntresses that were slowly being overwhelmed by Grimm and infected. Neither men could understand why she was so concerned about this one particular battle until they saw the flashes of red and yellow. " Ruby... Yang."

Before either Winter or Ironwood could react; Qrow was already out the room and charging down the coridoor. " Sir I..."

" Winter go with him. Make sure he knows where the hell he's going." As their eyes met; she knew what he really meant. ' Go be with your sister.'

" Sir... And um... what are you going to do here?" Winters military training broke for a second as she worried about the man she highly respected above all else.

" I'm going to try and find a way to end this fight..."

" Sir." She gave him a quick salute before disappearing down the corridoor; chasing Qrow.

Ironwood then turned back to his ruined bridge and began to figure out how the hell he was going to be able to save them all...


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - Hunters Fall

" Hello... hello... is anyone there? Please respond... This is Velvet of team CV... We're taking heavy casualties... Some type of in... Monsters... Please... help... Can anyone... Please respond... we're at..."

" This is Russel of... Everyone is dead... Cardin... oh god!... Please... nooooo..."

" ... Jaune of... NPR... There's too many... Can't escape... Need assistance... Can you hear me?"

The roars and feral growls filled Jaunes' ears and drowned out any noise that he could make out from his scroll. Yet he could tell that all that was transmitting was waves upon waves of static.

Around him; his friends and team members were fighting tooth and nail againts the ever increasing Grimm and thankfully dwindling numbers of sin carriers. It actually gave him hope that they might get through the entire engagement with their lives. They knew how to deal with Grimm; the only thing that scared the piss out of them was dealing with the infected.

The major problem that they were having was that all this fighting was wearing them all out and weakening their auras. To make matters worse was that they were running low on dust and were no where close to a dust store to resupply. It was days like this that he was actually quite glad that he stayed old school with his sword and board strategy.

Too bad the situation continued to escalate every second. The had just taken care of a wave of Creeps when at least two packs of Beowolves entered the fray with four Ursas for support.

Add in the flying wings of Imps, Griffions, two Nevermores, and even a Gargoyle into the mix and they were getting assaulted from every conceivable angle. Yet; from the corner of his eye he thought he saw two figures charging towards their positon; with one weilding a long death scythe.

" Guys, we have incoming..." His words caught everyones attention for a second as they spared a glance to look towards the direction that he was pointing. Indeed, it did look like that back up was finally coming. Those two; no wait three people were heading right towards them with an almost reckless abandon.

Yet it was Blake with her cat like vision who was able to get a good look at all three of them. The woman that was running in the incoming group had icy dust on her blade; ready for an attack. While the third man; an immensively heavy set man who moved with unnatural grace; jumped high into the air in their direction.

It shouldn't of bothered her that much that they were getting assistance; yet her sense of danger was screaming at her. It was only when she saw the womans tricorn hat that Blake realized in shocking horror; her eyes opening wide. " Everyone dodge!"

She pushed Weiss along with her as everyone else was lost in thought for a split moment. In that moment of hesitation; the woman send a wave of ice across the ground which the man landed on hard.; sending razor sharp shards of ice flying in every direction.

As she turned back; she saw that everyone else took at least one shard hit to the body. Jaune and Pyrrha were the two that were least worse for ware; due to their shields taking the brunt of the attack. Ren; however took the most damage; with a shard in his left arm and multiple deep cuts on his arms and legs.

It was Yang who was the first one to respond to the unprovoked attack. She sent a strong left straight right into the mans gut. Yet to her horror; it hardly affected the man and the only sign of her even connection were the massive rumbling of his belly.

She barely had a chance to dodge his blow as he swung down hard with his massive meat cleaver. She then dodged his meat hook as he threw it out towards her. Yang gripped onto the massive chain that connected both weapons and pulled tightly on the chain; pulling the man towards her. She was going to blast this man right in the jaw with her impressive right hook; thus taking him out of the fight.

They were so close; Yang could smell the funk of this mans odor. She would need to take twenty showers to get his smell off of her after today. But as she swung her fist towards him; he moved his mouth over to meet it. With inhuman speed; he engulfed her arm and bit down hard and took the arm off from finger to elbow in one viscious bite.

Everyone stood stunned as they just watched this man cannibalized Yangs' arm with ease. Yang in turn moved her feet to the mans face and pushed off of him and back towards her friends. " Shit shit fuck. God dammit."

Yang looked down to the lifeless stub that used to be connected to her lower arm and hand. " That bastard just destroyed my prosthetic. I was just getting used to it too."

Ruby ran over to her sister with a look of fear on her face. " Yang... Yang..."

" I'm all right Ruby." Yang tried to put on a strong face for her little sister; but knew that none of them were all right.

She faced the fat man and expected him to be charging to attack; yet instead saw the woman walk towards them slowly with a sickly grin on her face. The woman pointed towards Ruby with her cutlass as her grin increased to almost inhuman proportions. " You girl. You're the daughter of Summer Rose; are you not?"

Yang whispered to Ruby; trying to show no emotion. " Ruby don't answer her."

Ruby turned towards her sister and then back at the woman. She shouted loudly so everyone could hear her words. " I am. What is it to you?"

The woman embedded her cutlass in the ground before jumping up and down; alternating feet; and clapping manically. " Goody goody. I was hoping that it wouldn't take that long to find you."

By this time; both teams had gotten between both Ruby and the woman. Jaune lifted his blade towards the woman. " What do you want with Ruby?"

The woman reclaimed her cutlass and flourished it in front of her with deadly ease. " Oh nothing much. I just felt that it was only fair that I was the one to kill her. You see; I had originally infected Summer so many years ago in order to draw out Kuro. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finally kill that bastard Kuro after multiple attempts. He's quite special you know."

Her words made knots in their stomachs as she nonchalantly explained her role in Summers death. It was only then that they finally recognized the woman that was in front of them. She was butcher of Stillwater; the insane huntress Calypso.

" Well you see; we are made for each other. That prideful man with his good looks, strong will, and even stronger aura; I could just eat him all up." Calypso move two fingers to her cheek and tried to look cute while spewwing out her reason for their eventual courtship. " He would be a treat for any woman. But you see; he belongs only to me. That's why that snivling older sister had to go; cause he would do anything for her. And we can't have that; can we? A man should be dedicated to only one woman."

From behind her the taller; fat man spoke. " Say what you want later. I'm hungry."

" Quiet Bacchus; you will feast later." She tried to push him back; but his desire was too strong and pushed her away.

" Nooooo. I will eat now. I want to savor that yellow dumpling so badly..." He charged towards the teams with his eyes focused directly on Yang.

Everyone seperated and fired their last rounds of dust into the man and then watch in horror as black puss filled his wounds and sealed up every wound that he receieved. Despite everyone thinking it; it was Blake that verbalized it. " Shit; all three of them are Sin Lords."

Hearing those words from the young man caught Calypso off guard. She had sworn that her benefactor had sworn that no huntsman or huntress; let alone wet behind the ears huntress would know that name. " Nekros; keep Rose girl busy. I need to go skin a cat."

The third sin lord; a tall lanky man weilding a massive death scythe and an empty expression on his face; walked towards Ruby. " Please girl. If you die by my hands. I will make sure that the end is quick and merciless."

Ruby gripped her scythe tightly and steel herself for the battle that was about to begin; one that she couldn't afford to lose...

Blake found herself on the back foot almost immediately. The sin lord Calypso kept on sending wave after wave of dust infused ice shards towards her faster than she could respond. She kept on having to rely on her shadow clones taking the fatal blows for her. Yet this was draining her stanima reserves at an extensive rate. She was either going to pass out from exertion or get pierced at this rate. To make matters worse; her mind was more focused on Yangs well being than hers. Seeing Yang without her right arm again was hard for the faunus girl and brought back many bad memories for her.

The only consolance was that Calypso was only focusing her wrath against Blake and leaving everyone else to fend for themselves against the fresh waves of Grimm that had appeared.

She spared a glance to check to see how everyone else was doing and was surprised at how well team JNPR was dispatching the reappearancing Grimm. But that glance had caught her dearly as she found her legs encased in the blackened ice and was now trapped; prone on the ground.

She could only watch helplessly as Calypso walked slowly over to her; determined to savor the killing blow. " Now little kitty; I do believe that you are down to your last life. But don't worry; I know so many different and entertaining ways to skin a cat."

Calypso lifted her blade up high and started to swing down towards the girl. Blake closed her eyes in fear; too scared to face her own death... Then nothing.

Her eyes shot open to see empty sky above her and now the blonde bombshell; Yang positioned at her feet. " Don't worry kitty cat. I'll have you out in a sec."

With a mighty blow from her left hand; she shattered the ice that had held Blakes' legs captive. Yet before Blake could even say thank you; Yang was charging back to join the fight against Bacchus. That was when Blake turned her attention to finding Calypso.

She turned around to see both Pyrrha and Weiss trying to hold back the older woman; who was cursing Pyrrha with each attack. " You dare stab me in the back and shove such a dirty weapon into my skull. I will rip out your spine and use your skull as an ash tray"

Getting behind the infuriated woman; Blake came down hard with both her blade and sheath down the womans back.; leaving two massive wounds from shoulder to waist. Calypso spun around furiously at the blind sided attack and send a wave of ice towards Blake. Thinking quickly; Blake formed a shadow clone and using the clone as a spring board; lept over the attack to land two more vertical slashes down the womans front side.

'They were holding their own against her'; that was what Blake was thinking. If they kept up this pace; then eventually these Sin Lords would have to hit some level of inability to heal. They just had to keep it up...

Yang was getting tired. She was never one for these really long engagement. She prefered to go in with fist flying and Grimm dying. Yet she had already lost her cybernetic arm and her left was starting to feel like a wet noodle. No matter how hard they hit that massive ball of fat; he barely reacted. All the while he performed sweeping attacks with his weapons; trying to get them through sheer area of contact.

The only one that had managed to do any damage against him was Nora and that was because she was pounding his head like it was a wack-a-mole. But she could see it in both Rens' and Noras' eyes; they were getting tired as well. They just had to hold out for a little bit longer; she knew that they were gonna be able to stop them somehow.

This was bad. This massive man called Nekros; who Jaune finally remembered from the vid; was beating both of them badly. He had even torn through Jaunes' shield like it was nothing more than cardboard. So now he had only his families antique sword to protect him from the bigger mans attacks. He knew that Rubys' weapon was faring even worse though; especially by the way it was vibrating. That was why he was never a big fan of multiple form weapons; under heavy usage; they had a tendoncy to fail spectacularly. Yet, one good thing was that he was wounding the bigger man and he was feeling it. They might actually have a chance at stopping him.

The sound of Pyrrha screaming in pain got his attention though. That's when he saw all three huntresses on the ground; cluching themselves in pain; with Calypso standing over them all. Over to Pyrrhas' side; he noticed the broken remains of her spear Milo; which meant that she was unarmed.

He gripped the pommel of his sword tightly and swore under his breathe for Ruby to forgive him; because he knew what he had to do. Without a second though; he hurled his blade end over end towards Calypso and pierced her below her left shoulder blade.

Both Pyrrha and Calypso was left in shock at the young mans action. yet Pyrrha; not to let the chance slip by; gripped the handle and twisted the blade. Calypso let out an inhuman cry of pain which caught the other two lords off guard. " KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL NOW!"

Jaune felt a hard pain send him flying off he feet; away from where Ruby and himself were fighting Nekros. He turned back to see Nekros cleaving the ground with his scythe; going almost psychotic with his attacks. Jaune didn't know what happened; but he knew that he had just sealed all their fates.

He was too good, too heartless, too strong, just too much; Ruby knew this deep down. This man called Nekros was going to kill her and there was nothing she could do. No matter what she did; she couldn't hold up against him.

He could keep up with her above average speed and she was too tired to rely on her semblance to give her a boost. He hasn't let her catch her breath once; even when he focused on Jaune. He was able to send out a quick leg kick to knock her off guard or force her to continue moving.

All of her blows; he willfully took and healed without even a second thought. While his attacks forced her into blocking with Crescent Rose. Her baby wasn't designed to absorb so much abuse; nor at this frequency. She had to break free and see how much damage he had caused her scythe. The last thing she needed was him getting another advantage...

' Jaune... no.' Ruby watched helplessly as Jaune sent his sword flying at Calypso without a second though. It was his desperate attempt to save Pyrrha; the girl he loved more than anything. She knew that she shouldn't feel betrayed at him for willfully signing their own deaths in exchange for Pyrrhas' but the pain in the young huntresses heart was too much for her to bear.

Yet in her shocked hesitation; she lost focus of the man in front of her. He was already swinging his scythe wide; planning on cleaving her in two. She tried stepping backwards to dodge; yet tripped over some rubble on the ground and fell backwards. She had to use her scythe to block the incoming blow; otherwise she was going to die here and now.

She felt the shaft rumble relentlessly under the weight of the attack noticed that the clip assembly was now completely ruined due to all the abuse.

Ruby rolled back onto her feet; yet had to raise her scythe up to block his descending scythe. It was then that the most horrid thing in her life happened; her blade buckled and shattered under his attack and left her with a heavily dented metal stick to now defend herself against a man who had every plan to kill her. She was broken; the weapon Ruby cared so much about and spent months and months modifying and perfecting till it was more an extension of herself than a weapon. It was her heart and soul; and now it was destroyed before her eyes. The cold embrace of fear and sorrow gripper her tightly; making it impossible for her to move.

And there he was now hovering; barely a few feet from her; with a demented grin on his face. He flourished his undamaged scythe in front of her; silently mocking her destroyed weapon. He lifted his scythe diagonally; savoring the Coup de Grace blow that will end the girls life.

She saw her short life flash before her eyes. She saw all the friends she made, all the Grimm she killed, all the adventures she went on with her team. She had lived a full life in such a short time; yet there was so much she would not be able to do. She still hadn't fallen in love, faced her fears, hell she hadn't even graduated yet. But her last memories turned to Jaune; the first real friend she made at Beacon. A loser, a weakling, and overall uncool; yet a boy who was willing to do anything to protect his friends from danger. She would miss him most of all.

Now she just waited for death as she heard the cutting of air of the decending blade... and then nothing... no death blow; just a heavy weight pushing her backwards.

Her eyes shot open to see a mass of short blonde hair blocking her view. _Jaune...!_

" Ruby, you need to go... Run..." Jaune tried speaking through the blood that was pooling in his mouth. Yet Ruby couldn't budge; not after also watching him get cut down. She kept on loosing everything she cared about and was too shaken to move.

" JAUNE!..." The piercing shriek of Pyrrha shot through the silence.

"Oh too bad. Looks like you're down one already..." Nekros flourished his scythe again. He planned to enjoy every second in killing the young huntress. To him; killing Jaune was just an unexpected surprise. Again he raised his scythe up diagonally for the Coup de Grace blow and after a second sent it down at the young girl.

Then there was nothing but light and sound...

What once there was a death scythe that had already struck down one student. The pieces of it shot back from a massive glowing pillar that had pierced the ground between Nekros and the two young student.

As the light faded; it cleared to show a massive sword imbedded into the ground. Behind it was a shaggy black hair and hardened grey eyes. Two metal gauntlets gripped the sword handle tightly while two shorter gun blades became visible from the mans back.

Everyones eyes were now on him and he knew it; he didn't care. He came here to do something that he should of done a long time before.

Nekros spun the staff that used to weild his scythe on its end. He lifted the staff high overhead and sent it down towards the newly arriving man.

It was barely a blink of the eye; a move no one could even fathom; let alone dodge. The swordsman was now to the side of Nekros and his sword was now in place where Nekros' neck should of been. He had decapitated the Sin Lord and to everyones shock; Nekros didn't regenerate.

The mans sword glowed white hot and incinerated both Nekros' head and body in a fire so hot that it burned black.

His eyes then turned toward the Sin Lord that had caused him so much pain and suffering for all these years. His words echoed throughout Vale as he screamed out her name. " CALYPSO!"

Calypso could only grin as she saw the man that she was so enfactuated on; finally appear. It was then that she saw black objects descending from the sky; leaving behind trails of black smoke. " Sieg... you shouldn't have..."

Her words were stopped cold when she saw other objects touching down all around her. The Jaegers have descended on Vale...


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 - A Midsummer Night Nightmare

High above the war torn streets; aboard an almost empty combat airship. " Um... did he just jump out of the airship?"

" Yep."

" Without a parachute?"

" Yep."

" And expects to survive?"

" Yep."

" HOW?!"

" First thing you learn at Beacon is how to land from a great height..."

" Oh... damn."

" Sieg, Sieg, Seig, oh my sexy sexy man. You finally decided to come visit after all this time." Calypso walked away from the three girls who were her original opponents and walked slowly towards the man. " And here I am; my hair all a mess and in such dingy attire. If you would of called ahead; I would of made cookies."

Yet Calypso stopped cold as she saw the burning hatred in the mans eyes. She remembered that look quite well; the last time he looked like that was when Summer died. It was then that she realized the he would make the strongest Wrath they ever had. Yet; as she looked at him now; it dawned on her that his wrath was more than anything that they could hope to control. His retribution against Nekros was so quick and brutal that it sent chills down her spine.

Ever since Calypso was turned; she never felt fear. The virus had mader her unafraid of death; seeing that it was incredibly hard to kill one of them. Yet to was her former team mate and fellow lord die so quickly to just a blade; it gave her pause.

" Make peace with what ever monster you worship Calypso because you're not leaving here." She could see that his sword still glowed a bright white with red runes burning down the fuller. He had activated the ignition form of his blade; making the entire blade searing hot. But from what she remembered; even that form couldn't kill a Sin Lord.

" You're wondering how I killed him with just a swing of my blade? I can see the fear on your face. Well, how about another demonstration?" Before she could even respond; Bacchus had tried to smash Sieg under the weight of his gut. The massive tub of lard was not good for much; but he did make a good distraction.

But as the dust settled; she saw that Sieg had again tapped into his massive speed and had dodged the attack easily. Now there stood the two men ready to fight; with Bacchus easily towering over the Jaeger in size and girth. He swung down with his massive cleaver; planning on chopping Sieg in two.

Sieg lifted his left gauntleted hand up towards the blade and again his body was awash in light. With little effort; he caught the massive blade with the palm of his hand. With his own massive blade in his right hand; he lifted it skyward in a ferocious arc; cutting the fat man open. He then came down with the blade onto Bacchus' arm; severing it clean.

" You see now don't you. Humanity will NOT go quetly into the night. We WILL fight for our survival." Without even waiting for a response; he leapt into the air and severed the Sin Lords head; setting the rest of the body on fire.

" How did... that's impossible. But... but... but... we're supposed to be immortal." Calypsos' head shifted from left to right; scanning the horizon. All around she saw massive plumes of fire, lightning, and smoke shooting skyward. She needed help, she needed her infecte. " MY CHILDREN COME TO ME!"

" Don't worry little bunny; I'm here to help." Velvet could however only look dumbfounded as this mountain of a man walked towards the massive wave of Grimm that charged towards them. She could tell that he was all muscle under his bear skin cloak and heavy padded armor. He held himself like some kind of warrior king and the Grimm as some unwashed rabble wanting to drag him down by his cloak. She wondered how he was going to stop this horde...

Then she saw the blade of his massive spear seperate into eight prongs that now encircled the top of the spear. The shaft shortened down to more of a two handed mace like Cardins'; and bulked up as it collapsed into itself. The bladed tips started glowing an inhuman black as he lifted the mace over his head and slammed it into the ground; shattering the concrete street with ease. The blast shot off in a conical direction; ripping buildings and Grimm apart with ease.

" This is Odin. Enemy has been engaged at sector six. Estimated time to purge; seven minutes." It was a rare sight to see see someone using gravitational dust so nonchalantely; let alone so devastatingly. With one blow; he had taken out all the Grimm and a good chunk of buildings for about three blocks.

His weapon shifted again; this time back to the spears length but took the form of a halbred. " Child, you can not stay here. You need to take your friends to the safety of your teachers."

Velvet just stared at him; unable to verbalize the sight that she just witnessed. Such rampart destruction; yet with such precision. Did she survive the Grimm onslaught just to watch these monsters raze Vale?

The masked woman looked around at the massacre that had happened just so recently here. She had seen many such massacres in her time since joining the Jaegers; but it never got easier. The worst had to the two arms gripping this heavily damage pronged mace. She assumed that they were severed by the bite of an Sobek; due to the rendered flesh around the edges. It would of been a rough way to lose ones arms; but not fatal. She turned to see four severly hurt boys shambling towards her; one of which was armless.

They were infected and had already turned. What a crap way to go for kids so young; she told herself. She turned around to see more infected appear along with some Creeps. " This is Neith. Infected along with some Grimm spotted and engaged... No I won't need assistance."

From her back; she unsheathed and expanded her war glaive. " Start the clock if you would though... Four minutes..."

This was the worst thing that could be happening right now; Qrow thought. He was surrounded by an endless horde of Grimm with an ice queen who only has one good arm. While he was stuck here; his two nieces could be killed or worse...

He had to end this quickly and go save them; but how?

The sound of automatic gun fire caught his attention though; as it tore through the ranks of the Grimm. From a gap in the Grimm lines; they both saw a well dressed man in a black suit and hat. In his left hand; he held a smoking trumpet. " Sorry for interrupting the duet you two were performing; but Sieg has requested you presence on the main stage. I think he's pulling the curtain on this act."

" Took you long enough to get here Apollo." Qrow shot off a couple of rounds towards a few charging Beowolves and smiled as they collapsed into dying piles of smoke.

" Hey, the boss said that we're coming. He didn't say anything about mastering the art of instant teleportation to get us to Vale before the shit hit the fan." Apollo let out another salvo of rounds till he ran dry and was forced to change clips. " Thought you could hold the fort till we got here."

" Apollo, you snot nosed little cockroach! How dare you show your face around here; especially after what you've done to me." Winter looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel by the way her veins were popping out from her skin. Qrow had heard about her most recent encounter with him and was surprised that he would risk appearing in front of her so soon.

" Now now miss Schnee; this is not the time to get your overly laced panties in a twist. " Qrow had to physically hold her back from doing something drastic to Apollo and vice versa. Even if Apollo did deserve a beating for saying something like that to her.

" I take it that the Jaegers finally got off of their asses and got involved with the world again?" Qrow kept his eyes and hands on Winter; yet the disgust in his words towards the jaegers could be felt by both parties.

Apollo finished gunning down the rest of the Grimm with cruel precison before changing it back into its base trumphet form.

" Don't mistake our lack of visibility for a lack of activity; it makes you sound like an idiot Qrow." As if on cue; the sky erupted in fire and lightning as their ears was assaulted with noise. " One hundred and twenty five Jaegers; all dropped across the city and along the Grimm invasion path. Each one given enough room to fight without restraints; and with a small armies worth of dust..."

" You're going to destroy Vale with that recklessness..." Winter tried to break free of Qrows grip; yet he held her tight. Even if he agreed with her opinion; he felt that Sieg had another plan.

" Vale's already lost miss Schnee; along with the other three capitols. All we care about now is the survival of humanity." Apollo lowered his head till his eyes were no longer visible by the two. " No matter the cost."

Sieg turned from side to side; waiting on the Grimm to come. He couldn't help but sigh as he saw the nervous look on Calypsos' face. She still couldn't comprehend what was going on or how she was completely outclassed. " You can lower your arms down. Your waves of Grimm are not coming; same with your expected waves of infected civilians."

Calypso was at a loss for words as she watched him approach. Through all of their encounters he was never this frightening. He had slaughtered Nekros and Bacchus without breaking a sweat; HE had killed THEM. " How? How did you do it? We're immortal."

" Try telling that to your two cronnies here; or the other four that have been killed in the other cities. Hell, even if I told you how; you still wouldn't comprehend. The knowledge that I now hold is above you." Sieg lifted his massive blade single handedly and pointed it right at Calypso. " But I know that it's not above him..."

Everyone else there was looking at Sieg; dumbfounded as to what or who he meant. Calypso looked the most confused and even more concerned. Sieg had found a way to kill a sin lord; to kill HER!

_How did he manage that and who else knows?_ Her thoughts became so easy to read from the expressions on her face; it was sickening. " Sieg, can't we talk about this sweety?"

Siegs eyes pierced hers; that hatred he contained under his cold exterior was truly frightening. " I'm done talking to YOU; now get out here so we can finish this in person..."

" It's just us and these kids here... no... one... elseeeeee..." Calypsos' eyes rolled back into her head as her body convulsed and shook; with her limbs locking up on her. The appearance on her face was the worst of it all; as if she was trying to scream yet not having the ability to. Finally her body recovered with her head down and shoulders slumped. Yet the laughter that she let out was low and deep; nowhere near the high pitched female voice she usually had. " Oh... my... I was careless. When did you figure it out?"

" Back when you possessed Summer..." Sieg had moved his blade down into a defensive stance with both hands on the hilt. " When you grow up fighting the same person over and over again; you learn their fighting style. Your attempt was a pale immitation of hers and left much to be desired... Puck? Or should I call you Robin Goodfellow?"

Calypsos' free hand removed her tricorn hat and tossed it on the ground. It then ran its fingers through its hair. " Puck would be sufficient. Seeing that you mortals can't even pronounce my full title. Not your fault by the way; our adepts didn't think that such pests would ever get to address the Heirarchy."

" Bet they didn't see you all being slaughtered by your slaves either." Sieg let a grin stretch across his face as he let his words slip. " Funny huh?"

The being contorted Calypsos' face into a scowl; apparently greatly upset and disturbed by Siegs words. " So it seems that you DO know more than was to be expected. No matter; your end has already be shown."

" All four of your assaults have been stunted. Your Sin Lords have all been killed. Your virus has been contained. Not to mention the fact that we have slaughtered endless hordes of your Grimm." Sieg stared down the being without fear or hesitation. " If you plan on exterminating us; then you will have to do it in person. No more hiding behind your pawns."

"The immortal king has risen and nothing you can do will stop him." The form was outright threatening him; yet he refused to flinch.

" Except use the teachings of Titania..." Siegs sword started shining in light as the being forced Calypso backwards. Sieg shifted the massive blade into its gun form and pointed it right at her chest. Without hesitation; he fired a blast of light and fire right at her.

" You; you PIGS! You will pay for your transgressions this day. Count on it." Without even hesitating; the being sent Calypsos' blade into the ground; forming a massive wall of dust infused ice around her.

Sieg grin grew wider. " And you can count up your sins..."

Calypsos' back became white hot as the being let out an inhuman scream. Her body became swarmed in the oppressive light before it disintegrated; cell by cell. From behind her; a well dressed man held his hat down over his eyes with his right hand while his left held his transformed trumpet with its bell collapsed into a now white hot barrel. " Sorry boss man. Still owed the bitch for Dragonhorn."

Sieg shifted his blade back into its sword form before greeting the newest arrivals. " First; your late. Second; I'm glad you got your vengance out of the way now. Gonna need your head in the game from this point forward."

His eyes shifted towards his cousin Qrow and Winter Schnee. "I need you two to get to Ozpin and Ironwood. They need to get communication restored as soon as possible; we're going to need it."

Qrow looked at the man that has caused his family and friends so much pain over the years. He had so many times wished that he would have just one uninterrupted chance to finish the fight that they had started years ago. Back when Sieg was still Kuro; a snot nosed arrogant brat with a massive chip on his shoulder. But he saw in the mans' eyes that he wasn't that brat anymore; he was something... else. "Anything else you want conveyed to them?"

" Yeah. Save as many people as you can..."

" Jaune hold on..." Rubys' arms were wrapped around Jaunes' body as her tears dropped down onto the dying boys face.

" Ruby..." Jaune coughed up even more blood as his eyes tried to focus on the red haired girl that was hovering above him; holds his bloody body.

_Red like roses fills my dreams and bring me to the place you rest_

He was going to die here. He knew it in his mind and soul. Yet even still; he forced his hand towards her face to wipe away her tears. He felt so cold; so numb...

_White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test_

Jaunes' eyes blurred till only darkness remained as his arm pushed through till he could find her...

_Black the beast decends from shadow_

He felt the warmth of her hands helping him touch her cheek. Even through the darkness; he still wiped away her tears. She was so warm; as if he was touching the sun...

_Yellow beauty burns..._

" Thank you... Ruby... You were the best friend that I could of asked for..."

" Jaune don't talk like that. You're going to make it..."

He could feel what strength he did have; slowly leave him. " Please tell Pyrrha..."

" Jaune don't... Please, stay with me...

" Please tell her... that I... lo..."

_...gone._


	19. Epilogue

Epilogue

Upon the walls of Vale; overlooking the smoldering destruction that was once such a proud city; stood two men. One a massively tall man with a mechanical right arm; weidling a massively tall sword in his left hand. The other a pale blue faced being with snow white hair and unearthly beauty; whose cloths scream of out of place.

They both took in the massive devastation that had befallen the city; with sullen expressions. The blue skinned man turned towards the taller man with a look of utter disgust. " You promised me the death of a city Tyr."

" I'm sorry lord Puck but the plan had succeeded on many other levels than was originally expected." For such a tall man; he had a look of fear on his face as he tried to appease the oddity.

" You also said that the Jaegers were no longer a factor in the equation. Am I to believe that their arrival en masse here and in other cities was also a success on some level?" He turned towards Tyr and slowly lifted up his right hand.

Tyr flinched as he saw Puck raise his hand for he knew the true power of the being before him. " I assure you; I wasn't trying to deceive you. I had personally saw the elimination of many of their numbers since their inception. I just never assumed that they were able to convince so many to rally to their cause."

" And what about their discovery of the teaching of Titania? Am I to assume that you over looked that key detail?"

" I swear; I don't know how they managed to aquire such information." Tyr was now walking backwards; away from Puck slowly with his hands out in front of him in order to deflect any real threat. " Any such information that was found about her was surpressed and subsequently destroyed."

" You do realize that because of your failings; I have lost a bulk of the Grimm and almost every single infected." Pucks finger tips flickered as Tyr felt invisible threads wrap around his body. " Someone will have to answer for this debacle; because I am not going to put my life on the line when I discuss this with our king."

" Please you must see the good things that we have achieved."

Puck loosened the threads by a little; waiting for Tyrs' explanation. " Go on."

" All the councils are in turmoil. Thanks to the siege; my agents were able to 'persuade' the more moderate members into early retirement." Tyr could see that Puck understood what he really meant. " The ones that are left are more staunch supporters of my ideals and discipline. It will only be a matter of time before every huntsman and huntress followed my orders."

" You fail to explain as to how you will deal with the Jaegers and the resurgent support that they will receive after todays debacle." Puck really didn't care for the whole cloak and dagger work of these mortals. Personally, he got tired of working in secret for some time now and only continues to do so out of loyalty to his master.

" Well that is the thing about being in power; you can sway the populaces emotion any way you see fit." Tyr could only grin at all the possibilities that he could perform. " It won't be long after I take control that there will be another Jaeger War; which will do quite nicely to buy you time to rebuild and for me to thin their numbers considerably."

With a wave of his hand; Puck released Tyr from the threads restraint. He turned away from Tyr slowly and focused on the carnage of the city. " Fine. I allow you one last chance to prove yourself a worthy servant. But if you fail me this time; then it will be your head."

Pucks body disintigrated into atoms in front of Tyr; which the tall man realized was his way of movement across vast distances. With a nervous smile he raised up his right robotic arm and lowered the sleeve till metal met flesh; exposing small black lines coming from the stump. " I will not fail you again my master."

(( Authors Notes: So um. Jaeger Wars is completed finally. Ya. Never thought that it would take this long or that the story would be this long. Next step is going through and revising some stuff here and there and fixing stuff; mostly spelling and grammer.

From there; I will probably start working on book two which will see new trials and tribulations of the heroes and villians. Got a good idea on what will happen and to who. Left a lot of loose threads out there. Some of them I kind of regret leaving loose.

Also need to get back to Dust &amp; Sand and figure out where i'm going with that.

Also a big shout out to Bill, Kai, and Wong for being my first three followers. With Kai following for almost an entire year now.

One final note. Cmon Miles and Kerry; stop using my ideas in the main story; or at least hire me to write :P . { Season 3 After Credits Scene}))


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